Our Narrowboat Quest 190 Exploring the Old Loop at Newbold on the North Oxford Canal

Join us on Narrowboat Dunworkin as we continuously cruise the Inland Waterways of England and Wales.

We’ve been moored at Brinklow Marina since last September but it’s now time to leave and get back to continuously cruising the Inland Waterways of England and Wales.

We head south on the North Oxford Canal for a short cruise to Newbold. Here we explore one of the disused loops.
James Brindley was the appointed engineer and the canal was originally a contour canal following the lie of the land and was 91 miles long. Construction of the canal began in 1769 and reached Rugby in the early 1770’s. The old Newbold tunnel was completed in 1777.
Competition in the form of the Grand Junction Canal opened in 1800, and by the 1820’s threatened the Oxford Canals traffic so the engineers took drastic measures North of Braunston and cut 14 miles of the 36 miles to Coventry.
As we travel South, at Iron Bridge 45 the canal would have made a sharp right turn and meandered through the farmland before reaching the old Newbold Tunnel at St Botolph’s Church, the old tunnel was completed in 1777, this continued under the road and exited by an the Boat and The Barley Mow Pub.
Thanks to Google Earth you can still see the impression the canal has left on the landscape.
The new Newbold Tunnel is 250 yards long and was built in the early 1830’s during the shortening of the canal.


We have self funded our YouTube channel
for the last 6 years. We film and edit our channel using editing software for which we pay an annual subscription and in order to keep the music fresh we pay a monthly subscription to Epidemic sounds.
So far we have self funded all of the camera and audio equipment required.
However as we are on a limited budget any contribution towards these costs would be greatly appreciated.


Subscribing to our channel is free but for those wishing to support our channel you can now do so on Patreon at :
  / ournarrowboatquest  

If you wish to show your appreciation by contributing to a cup of coffee you can do so at :
https://kofi.com/ournarrowboatquest1...

Watch from the beginning of our journey
   • Watch from the beginning of our journey  


Music by Epidemic Sounds
Honey Take My Hand Cody Francis