Summary
The story of Tooley’s Boatyard and the people, trades and traditions that shaped Britain’s inland waterways heritage. Blending history, craft traditions and personal experience, the book explores one of the oldest continuously working dry docks on the canal system.
Forging Ahead tells the story of Tooley’s Boatyard, Banbury, one of Britain’s oldest continuously working inland waterways dry docks.
The yard has existed since the arrival of the Oxford Canal in Banbury in 1778 and remains a rare surviving example of a living working boatyard where traditional skills, crafts and waterways practices continue to survive.
Written by Matthew Armitage, who has directed the site since 2002, the book combines historical research with personal experience and practical insight into the daily life of the dockyard. Through photographs, archive material, illustrations and anecdotes, the book explores the people, trades and traditions that shaped the yard across generations.
From blacksmithing and boatbuilding to canal carrying, repair work and heritage preservation, Forging Ahead captures both the industrial history and the human stories connected to this much loved part of Banbury’s waterways heritage.
The book also explores how traditional working practices continue to survive within the yard today, offering readers a rare insight into a functioning historic waterways site rather than a static museum environment.
All proceeds from the sale of the book support Tooley’s Boatyard and its ongoing heritage and conservation projects.
“I’m very impressed – it’s how it was.”
— John Plester, blacksmith’s son
“Splendid and beautifully illustrated.”
— Banbury Guardian