Jericho boat restoration project awarded £210,000
A narrowboat is being converted into a community vessel
In Jericho, new life is breathed into a piece of history. Kilsby used to be a houseboat for decades, now volunteers in the Oxford neighbourhood are turning the historic narrowboat into a space for cultural events that can also be used for passenger transport.
The project has just been awarded some £211,000 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The restoration effort started in 2019, when Kilsby’s previous owner donated her former home to Jericho’s Living Heritage Trust. One day, the boat is envisioned to serve the local community as a floating stage, creative space, and transport vehicle.
The new funds will help to finance the next 2.5 years of work, including the restoration of Kilsby’s stern and the installation of an electric motor.
The requirements the restored boat has to fulfil are manifold: “It needs to operate in an environmentally sustainable way,” explained 42-year-old Sophie Stanley, who volunteers on the project since 2020.
It needs to be accessible for people with any type of disability. It has to be operational as a passenger vessel.
“It needs to be able to host arts and heritage activities,” said Ms Stanley. And: “It needs to look like it looked in 1912.” The volunteers want to modernise the boat while restoring its historical features.
They aim to preserve the local heritage. Jericho lies adjacent to the Oxford Canal, which has long been home to a community of live-aboard boaters.
Peter Stalker, the Treasurer of the Jericho Community Association, said that Kilsby is “a reminder about the roots of the communities that we now have.
“It’s like making sure that there’s an electric current moving along the wires, still,” he said.
The boat’s illustrious history started more than 110 years ago, as documented on the project website.
Kilsby was commissioned in 1912 as part of a fleet of 24 unpowered narrowboats at £190 each. She was used as a cargo boat, first drawn by horses and then by other, engine-powered ships.
In 1934, Kilsby even served as the birthplace of a child. Later on, she was turned into a mud boat and helped in the dredging of waterways in the Manchester area.
Kilsby was likely turned into a home in the 1970s, when its owners at the time installed a wooden cabin on deck. In the 80s, she arrived in Oxford.
That is also where the boat fell into the hands of her long-time owner and inhabitant Helen McGregor. The actor and writer moved onto Kilsby in 1993 and lived on her for almost three decades, moored in the city centre.
By 2019, Kilsby had fallen into disrepair: she was leaking, rotting, and now uninhabitable. And when Ms McGregor decided to donate her boat, the work began.
Kilsby was painstakingly moved to Tooley’s Boatyard in Banbury, where she was stripped down and cleaned. The boat was dry-docked to reinforce and blacken the hull.
Meanwhile, volunteers had also been fundraising, brainstorming about Kilsby’s future purpose, collecting feedback, and pursuing creative projects.
Now, Kilsby still lies in Banbury; capital restoration works are due to be completed by the end of 2026.
But even before Kilsby is fully restored, the effort has borne fruit. “Community projects bring people from different walks of life together,” said Ms Stanley. “It is fulfilling.”
She is a boater herself. “It has connected me more meaningfully with the history of how I live,” she said.