14. Inside Banbury Lock on the Oxford Canal 

"2020 may be your next chance"..... what good timing to find the video!

Well, I guess 2020 was a bit different than anticipated. Can't hold that against you, nice video.

That boatyard is where the legendary Tom Rolt had his equally famous boat Cressy refurbished and fitted out for cruising in 1939. If only they had RU-vid then, there would have been some amazing videos. In the meantime, his book Narrow Boat, published in 1944, is required reading. It marked that era when canals where still an integral, albeit declining part of Industrial Britain. It was only a year after the publication of his book, which narrated his travels around the failing canal system of Britain with his first wife Angela, that had a meeting with Robert Aikman, and the road was set for them to found the IWA in 1946. Aikman was a literary agent, author and a dreamer, who fell in love with the romanticism of the canal system. Tom and Robert were to fall out in 1950; Tom Rolt wanted the canals regenerated for traditional trade, whilst Robert Aikman favoured the saving of everything inch of canal on its own merits. Tom loved the working boatsman and, despite being the pioneer cruiser, would not have been comfortable with canals as they now are. His second wife, Sonia, was a boater, albeit as a middle-class recruit as part of the war effort. In a sense, it started in Banbury. Without Cressy being fitted out for cruising on the eve of war in Tooley's Boatyard in 1939 there would have been no "Narrow Boat", and Robert Aikman, a literary agent and writer with no knowledge of waterwats, would not have been inspired to co-found the IWA. Who knows what would have been lost if that precious time had been lost? Tom Rolt didn't stick to canals. Once thrown out of the IWA, he put his energies into railway restoration, starting out on the Talyllyn Railway in 1950, the first "heritage railway" in the world. He died in 1974 aged 64 having bought the 14th century hall house at Stanley Pontlarge in Gloucestershire which his parents once owned. His widow, Sonia Rolt OBE, a stalwart of the preservation movement lived there until her death in 2014 aged 95. Cressy is long gone. She was that now very rare breed, a wooden narrow boat, and she went the way of such boats and sunk at her moorings, rotten through.

Just wanted to say we love your vlog. We live in Massachusetts and Florida. Nothing like narrowboats here. We have an Albin 27 trawler and love it. Keep up the great work. Bob and Sue

Just subbed, love your videos and your humor. I'm from Arizona, presently working in Kentucky. Before becoming a full time RVer, I was torn between a boat or a RV. I bought a 27' C-class RV that did not suit me. I now have a Jeep and a 13' fiberglass trailer, that I love. My temporary job will finish December 23rd. and I will be on the road again. I love your beautiful boat, it is a palace. I am looking forward to your adventures and the people you meet.

I enjoy this channel. Thank you for doing it!

absolutely loving your blogs. Better than the telly.

"2020 will be your next best chance" Me in Sept. 2020: "Wanna bet?"

So, I came across your channel as I'm interested in narrow boats. Thought to myself, this is very professional and well polished production, not normally the normal run of the mill youtuber. On further investigation I see that you used to be an ITV reporter. certainly shows, and a breath of fresh air. Thank you for making a light bulb (I'm currently going through your past videos) to the inside of a lock informative and interesting. Take care, looking forward to watching more.

Something which i hadn't realised or thought of until watching this was how well Roman Numerals lend themselves to being chiseled into wood.

That was better shot and more interesting (detail) than many BBC news reports.

Kudos to the trust and other community volunteers who keep the infra in good order. It's such a wonderful ecosystem to have around.

Mate, I love these educational vlogs! Cheers

I've been watching your later videos for about a year now. Finally got fully hooked and now I'm watching them all in order. What a peaceful way to live. Hoping one day I can live the same way though I may have to hop across the Pond to do it! Thank you for documenting and sharing your adventures!

Thanks for the info on the lock. It was interesting to see it with no water in it. 👍👍👍👍😎

Been watching you on and of for about a year now and have started to bindge watch and also reading the comments. Can't believe your still replying to comments 4 years on. Much love from Ireland

A lot of work obviously goes into your videos, much appreciated.

Absolutely amazing they did this work that long ago without our modern methods. Dave thank you for what you cover and inform us on. We in the states had no idea on the canals, Please keep up the great posts.

I have been enjoying your narration of your journey, and am resolved to bring the wife and spend some time on a narrow boat for a bit someday. I was also amused to listen to you switch into your "documentary voice". Well done!

I was watching a previous blog about your passage through a tunnel and the darkness. I’ve installed white led strips on the side by the bottom of my truck for visibility. My thinking is that you could do the same along the sides of the boat on a switch to put on in the tunnel.

Great video!!! I remember having great fun walking/playing in the Basingstoke canal in the 70s when part of it dried up .

It's a treasure for me, old is gold 😃amazing nd intresting.

Such history to be proud of

Very professional work. It felt as if I was watching a documentary on the Discovery channel. Very well done. Thank you! :)

Wow, what a great video. Love seeing how it’s done.

Thanks very much for this educational video, David, always keen to understand how the various bits of the canal network operate. 👍👌👏👏👏👏

I'm starting to look for my first narrowboat and have really enjoyed all your blogs. I love the way you keep it simple and explain things so clearly. Keep them coming please!

Fascinating! Just the right amount of information and history. I only just discovered you, but trust me, you are invited into my home every day now. The closest I ever came to such canal boating was in 1980 (when you were 8 years old?) when my late wife and I rented a houseboat for a week on the Trent-Severn Canal system. Not quite the same thing as narrow boating of course, but happy memories of locks and quiet evenings moored in beautiful locations. See you tomorrow. John

Fantastic video

Episode 14 of my binge on your channel, it’s been very entertaining. Keep up the fantastic work, love from Dublin 💙

Really interesting seeing inside a lock. Thanks for taking the time to share this.

Always nice to see what's left behind in locks /canals when they get drained, too! :D

Fantastic video. Thanks a lot.

again a fascinating video good to see a lock in its entirety drained ,and more interesting is that the method of repair hasn't changed much, mobiles i can understand top pocket bend in lock trouser pocket same as but handcuffs different thanks again

Will be there, again, next week. I thought that lock was looking in good nick recently. Those boards are often stacked and locked together all up the canals, wherever there are bridges or small sections to close. All good basic engineering.

I truly enjoyed this vlog because it reminded me so much of my 20 years with the U.S. army Corps of Engineers at LaGrange Lock & Dam on the Illinois Waterway. The lock chamber at LaGrange was much, much bigger (600 ft long X 110 ft wide X 30 ft deep), but the hydro/mechanics aspects are the same. I only knew of it being de-watered one time, but it was also very clean on the bottom. Just a super video and I really like the way you incorporated the interviews with the CR&T folks.

Awesome insight for the curious ....Especially us , from the United states... Keep us inform....

Bugger! I have only just seen this in 2021... 😂

Very well filmed, presented as well as very informative. Thank you for your trouble and generously sharing.

As a youth, my friends and I used to jump across at that point! With the Mill arts centre nearby it used to be the place to meet girls!

Well, it is 2020 but as I live in the US, and have no plans to travel across the pond, I guess I will have to wait for the next time.

Too professional, you're making everyone else look bad!!! Only kidding, another brilliant vid, thanks for posting Captain. Merry Christmas. Noodles

I found this very interesting, thank you.

very very informative. Thank you. Interesting to see a dry lock.

Another fantastic video.

Would be nice to see the lock for it’s 2020 refurb. Found your channel just recently and find it all quite fascinating!

Would love to see the place where they manufacture the new gates!

Really well presented, well composed camera work and editing, very interesting.

You really cant tell he used to be a journalist can you?! Keep up the good work.

I lived in Banbury for a time in '98. I remember the lock and many other areas! The Smell of Coffee always reminds me as well!

This is exactly like a regional news item! The editing, your presenting style and voice, the pieces to camera, vox pops. I keep thinking you’ll sign off with “From Banbury Lock, this is David Sbuffhjfvjkf, BBC Oxford 6pm News”. Brilliant!

I used to live just up the road. Wonderful gongoozling walks along the canal.

Interesting video, thanks for sharing.

Good to see Steve giving a good impression,,,

Entertainingly enough, after many seasons traveling the Trent Severn with the family, the construction firm that my father works for got a contract to restore several locks over the winter months, both newer ones, and some historic ones. It was an interesting tag-along, and an interesting conversation when we passed the stretch the following summer. The lockmaster was explaining that the locks were recently renovated, and my father got to chime back a cheeky but good natured "I know, I'm the one to secured the contracts and oversaw the work." Watching your videos takes me back to the fun times of my younger years, and also gives me a want to possibly head back over to the UK sometime and hire a narrowboat. I haven't been in ages, due mostly to the family there either emigrating, or passing.

Great film

The phone on the far left is a Motorola which same model I bought around 1999/2000 period and is now unloved in a kitchen drawer, as for locks they alway scared me as kid mainly because my mate drowned in one.

Well done David, another great vlog. I particularly liked the way you included your commentary with involvement from the “tradesman”. It adds that extra human touch! I watched a different video from someone else and it was so boooring with just the same chap droning on !

The first time I thought I must have misheard, but this is the third time so I've googled Fettling. Learn something new every day...

VERY intreesting video, to see the more technical side of a lock, one doesn't really think about lock doors having to be replaced every 25 years or so

Great video 'this is two hundred year old technology and it still works' .. Fantastic; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I spent three weeks narrow boating on the Oxford Canal (Napton-Oxford-Napton) in Sep 16, whilst on holidays over in the UK, from Australia 🇦🇺- Banbury is a great town for narrow boaters, and yes, that Lock was in fine fettle when we used it👍🏻

Hi David, I came across this old video of yours through a RU-vid suggestion. Most interesting! Martin Zero did a video on the section of canal through the heart of Manchester, dated around 2 years ago, which was also very interesting. Hope your doing well and fighting off the boredom of not being able to cruise around. 🙁 Best Wishes, Toby.

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

Those planks date from Roman times, given the numerals

I didn't get to see this draining & won't get to see the next cause I live in America. Thanks for bringing the lock & your canal boat here. It looks like a lot of fun.

awesome thanks for sharing,ive always bee fasenated by locks

Hi David I like locks I goto Chester Canal to watch the boats nd the liocks very good regards John

Great love this type of videos !

That was great! Thanks for sharing.

I used to detest the " adds at the beginning and during some of the longer videos until I discovered they help you with funding albeit just a penny or two if that but oh well it all adds up to put pounds in your account slowly. As such I now watch them all from beginning to the end to do my part small though it is. Your videos are done professionally making them enjoyable and informative all at once and I have noticed seem to have become the required viewing from number one to the latest for anyone considering buying a narrowboat. Thanks again Cheers Jim

Most enjoyable. Nice to see repair work being done.

I wonder if they got chance to do this again for maintenance in 2020

well its 2020...a follow up would be cool

Always fascinating... as a bit of a wannabe archeologist, I’m always eager to see what can be found at the bottom of urban waterways.

I thought the number of mobile phones lost in the lock was hilarious (though I do sympathise with those who lost them). On a sailing holiday on the Norfolk Broads a few years back my husband lost his specs overboard just as we were coming into moor at the boatyard we’d hired the boat from (Hunter’s Yard heritage fleet). The Yard lent him an old rake with a mesh backing to fish around in the relatively shallow waters. The funny thing was that he fished up someone else’s glasses before he found his own pair. Fished up lots of mussel shells too.

Hello Rick Stebbens here that is were my sister was born. Banbury. We lived on hill view crescent. I do like you're blogs. Thank you

REALLY enjoying your videos,,I love the history that you put in ,,,thxs and keep taking us with you,,gb

Best way to clean the glass is to use a wet rag andsome wood Ash the mild abrasive works a treat. It can be Done with coal Ash but it can scratch the glass.

I'm a recent subscriber & only follow one other narrowboat channel. I noticed so many narrowboat channels try to be 'stars' whereas yours & the other I follow are actually about things that are interesting & not about yourselves which I prefer. For what it's worth I had a houseboat on my final list of 3 properties but ended up with a house. And I spent countless hours up at the locks in Bath where I lived, fascinating!

Very interesting, thanks

Excellent video and very informative.

This was a very nice look at the canal. Impressed with your journey.

Very interesting. And the notion that the lock is there since < 1800.

Très apprécié cette vidéo, merci 🙏 Canada

Fascinating .... I live in Niagara Falls, Ontario which is not far from the Welland Canal System that allows the ocean and lake ships to by-pass the falls at Niagara Falls between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. I've sat and watch the ships travel the canal system many times and am always fascinated with the process. This certainly highlights some of the older technology that still works in your area. Every year the canals are drained during the winter for maintenance and numerous cars are recovered (usually stolen) along with numerous other items.

Thanks for taking the time and effort ,, I only recently found that the stop planks can be stored at each gate ,, and some time in the base of a near by bridge , wonderful old brick bridges with a mysterious Door from 1890 ,, apparently very functional

next, great pc. of your your journey

Been in lots of locks on a boat but never have seen one this way. Very interesting. Super video.

Well done ! It's surprising how narrow the lock is. Once again, I'm surprise that the massive timber (oak) doors don't last more than 25 years before total replacement. The city of Venice was founded upon timber poles (I don't know the word in english) drawn into the soil, they last centuries…

Excellent - very informative and of course brilliantly presented/filmed :-) I fell in the canal in Manchester whilst on-route to Wigan but my phone survived after a good shaking. V embarrassing though.

very educational thanks for sharing. I'm from Jamaica, we don't have such things here. but it was lovely learning about it and fascinating to know that old technology still works today :)

I used to live in Banbury, very nice market town.

Great video, nicely done. You have found your niche brother. More please.

This is the only time I've heard the word "raddle" used for paint outside the works of Thomas Hardy. A very old English word!

just bought my first boat :-) be new year before all is done now with xmass holls

Very much enjoyed your latest vlog. I've hired narrowboats in the past but would love to live on one. Problem is I currently live on a large island in the Pacific. While commuting to Britain is inconvenient it does seem more cost-effective than constructing my own canal network. The £45M annual maintenance program highlighted in your vlog really drove that point home ... thanks for the heads up! ;-)

I once cleaned a old yale lock with wd40. What a experience

While due to geographic issues That unfortunately won't be possible, it's a lovely coincidence that I cought this vlog in 2020

Another interesting video

Fascinating. I’ve been binge watching your videos over the last 2 days but I seem to have missed this one. Sorry... 😥