Historic Narrow Boat Hardy - 1940

20/03/2026

A lovely celebration of the heritage that lurks beneath Castle Quay in Banbury!
Tooley's Boatyard Tooleys Boatyard Forge Tooley's Boatyard Trust

26/02/2026

Please join the Tooley's Boatyard Trust mailing list.

We’ve been rather quiet over the winter – but fear not, a lot has been going on in the background. A major task has been securing a new lease, that is now done, the dock is secure for the next 150 (or thereabouts) years and it's time to get moving to ensure that it will actually survive that long; work to preserve traditional skills and continue to tell the stories of not just the boatyard but the canal in and through Banbury. And Hardy is central to all of that.

We’ve also celebrated our talented apprentice, Jacob Beak (star of many a Hardy update), completing his training and become one of the country’s first three fully qualified Heritage Engineering Marine Technicians.
And now we’re moving on to some serious fundraising for the whole site – Hardy, the dry dock, the forge, the beltroom, the museum area as well as looking forward to celebrating the 250th anniversary of the canal arriving in Banbury and the founding of the boatyard.

We need your support!

A huge help as we start serious fundraising, whether that's local sponsorship or heritage grants, is being able to show support for our efforts. Which is where you all come in by joining our mailing list. We'll be sending a couple of updates a year plus specific events like plans for Canal Weekend and the upcoming 250th anniversary in 2028 of the canal arriving in Banbury. And we’ll still be sharing work on Hardy on this page.

Promise not to bore you to death and you can unsubscribe at any time! We’ll only email you about Tooley’s updates. No spam.

Here's the link - just your name and email + the option to say if there are things you are interested in coming to or getting involved in. Feel free to share, we need your support...

For nearly 250 years, Tooley’s Boatyard has been part of Banbury’s story - a place where boats are repaired, traditional canal skills are practised, and heritage is kept alive through use. We’re starting to build towards Banbury’s 250th canal anniversary in 2028. If you’d like to follow th...

05/10/2025

Last few hours to support the Keep Tooley's (and Hardy) afloat canal weekend prize draw.
Open until about 3.30 (I'm not the one closing it) to be drawn at 4pm so get those tickets NOW!
A reminder, these are the prizes...
• Fortnum & Mason hamper (value £100)
• Waitrose hamper (value £100)
• Majestic Wines (value £100)
• A boat trip for up to 12 including Prosecco and nibbles
• A Forge Experience – come and bash hot metal and take your work home!
• A £25 M&S vouchers – have a Dine In evening on us
And the link to be in with a chance...

Tooley’s Boatyard Needs Your Help!

03/10/2025

It's Banbury Canal Weekend - a chance to come and visit Hardy and the dry dock. Things are a little different this year because none of the trading boats can get to Banbury because of the drought lock closures. But plenty are still coming by road and setting up a market in the dry dock.
We've shared some of the news stories about the challenges Tooley's is facing and a lot of people have said they would like to help, so here's your chance...
Come and visit over the weekend and enter our fabulous raffle/prize draw. There are some very tasty prizes and you can enter from £1, whether in person whilst visiting or online!
We have some lovely prizes for our Canal Weekend Prize draw
• Fortnum & Mason hamper (value £100)
• Waitrose hamper (value £100)
• Majestic Wines (value £100)
• A boat trip for up to 12 including Prosecco and nibbles
• A Forge Experience – come and bash hot metal and take your work home!
• A £25 M&S vouchers – have a Dine In evening on us
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/banbury-canal-weekend-keep-tooleys-afloat

06/09/2025

Some of you may have seen the BBC news item 'Banbury Canal Dry Dock may be forced to close after 250 years'. Many people have asked how they can support the dock at this difficult time.
And one answer is: Support Hardy!
The headline does sound worse than things really are. The dock isn’t in danger of imminent closure but work is down simply because boats can’t get to us. And that could put jobs at risk if it carries on for more than a couple of months.
But… Hardy is in Banbury, just outside the dock, ready and willing to have more attention. The work is being done by a volunteer team but as the charitable trust who own Hardy we also need materials and the expertise of Matt Armitage and Jacob Beak to lead, teach and support them. And that needs funding.
Here's Jacob talking about the challenges and the possibilities.
Help us turn this difficult time into a triumph one cup of coffee (or tea) at a time!

19/07/2025

Work on Hardy continues but there isn't always someone to document what's going on. But today we managed it. So, today's update and a trip on a steam train...

It's wonderful what you can find at Tooley's Boatyard on a summer Saturday!

10/04/2025

Lots more exciting (and generally badly edited) updates to come but for now it's time to get the begging bowl out, pass the hat round and hope you will all support Hardy's restoration with the price of a cup of posh coffee.

We need to match the grant the wonderful National Historic Ships UK gave up to cover the work we did last weekend and to start on the next phase.

Here's where you can donate just £3 (or less, or perhaps a bit more) https://ko-fi.com/post/Help-us-match-fund-our-grant-from-National-Histori-K3K21BCB3P

Just a handful of virtual loose change will make a huge difference.

Thank you, thank you and thank you
From all the Hardy team.

Historic Narrow Boat Hardy published a post on Ko-fi

10/04/2025

Some more nice publicity for the Hardy project :-) The news clip from That's TV local Oxfordshire news. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1402596071189131&ref=sharing

09/04/2025

Some very nice coverage from the BBC...

Hardy was built in the 1940s and transported coal between Braunston and Banbury, restorers say.

07/04/2025

Bit quiet today as yours truly consigned her phone to a watery grave.
But, very quickly via handy pub wifi:
If you have Freeview 'That's TV' on channel 7 has a news programme from 6-7 which may feature us. If not, they have promised to send the clip for us to share later.

07/04/2025

Hardy is out of the dock. The hull survey was done by DB Marine Survey and we now have a plan for future works. We made good use of the dock time - various holes plugged, loads of caulking done and a hull blacking as well!

05/04/2025

Blacking the steel swim on Hardy...