Hardy was the last wooden narrowboat to be built by Nurser Brothers of Braunston in September 1940 for Samuel Barlow Coal Company and carried coal to the wharf in Banbury (where the bus station is now) until the late 1950s. In 1962, HARDY was sold to the Blue Line Carriers in Braunston and some time before 1971, she was sold into private ownership and converted to a pleasure boat.
In 2018 Tooley’s Boatyard raised her in Braunston and brought her to Banbury with a view to saving this historic vessel. We’ve managed to keep her from further deterioration mostly by keeping her sunk so that her timbers don’t dry out and fall apart!
In February 2025 we were awarded a grant by National Historic Ships UK towards docking, surveying, mapping the hull planks, prioritising which need replacing first along with some caulking and hull work.
To help out… go to: https://ko-fi.com/historicnarrowboathardy where you can pop a bit of loose change into the virtual piggy bank, about the equivalent of a cup of coffee would be just perfect!
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, over the canal weekend in October 2022 we asked 100’s of people what they thought the future of Hardy should be. The overwhelming response was that it should be restored to a functioning boat.
But… restoring an old boat is a lot of work and is very expensive! In order to keep costs down we will use volunteers who can learn a lot from expert craftsmen for much of the restoration work. So if you would like to be involved in the work please get in touch with boatyard.
We are currently asking for volunteers. Please contact us via 01295 272917 if you can help.
See Hardy on Facebook
BBC Oxfordshire News – April 2025
Coal trade narrowboat restoration work begins
BBC Sounds
(Starting at 1 hour, 38 mins)
Latest on Hardy:
Hardy 20-07-25
Work on Hardy continues but there isn’t always someone to document what’s going on. But today we managed it.
Hardy 07-04-25
Hardy is out of the dock. The hull survey was done by DB Marine Survey and we now have a plan for future works.
Hardy 5-4-25 c
The exterior is Surveyed, lunch has been had and now they’re working on mapping the interior.
Hardy 5-4-25 b
Blacking the steel swim on Hardy…
Hardy 5-4-25 a
Survey and hull mapping underway with Darrell Broscomb and Jacob Beak.
Hardy 2-4-25 c
Once sitting in an empty dock, the work began. Gentle pressure washing (well more gentle than the steel boats get) to get the hull clean and ready for the survey.