Oxford college considers buying back 125-year-old barge

A University of Oxford college has confirmed it has been offered the chance to buy back its 125-year-old former rowing barge.

New College said its governors had discussed the offer to purchase the barge for £290,000 from the vessel's current owner Julius Just at a meeting on Wednesday.

During the golden era of Oxford rowing, in the 1940s, there were as many as 26 college rowing barges. Today, only six remain afloat and most are privately owned.

Just said it would be "wonderful" to see the barge return to Oxford.

"Imagine the barge moored close to the College boathouse, welcoming former students, visiting academics, members of the Boat Club and guests," he said.

"It could provide a unique setting in which to celebrate New College's history and traditions."

New College confirmed to the BBC that it had received the offer, and that it would be contacting Just with a decision "shortly".

The barge was first commissioned by New College in 1901, and it was rebuilt in 1927 with a concrete hull.

Oxford colleges brought the vessels to the city around the Victorian era, when physical activity and rowing were growing in popularity.

"The barges go back about 150 years in the city to a time when the colleges wanted boathouses for their rowers, but they weren't able to build on land," David Thomas, from The Oxford College Barge Preservation Trust, explained.

"So they all set about building their own barges, which are basically club houses."

The vessels had been moored up at Christchurch Meadow, with their flags flying on Eights Week - the University of Oxford's annual college rowing centrepiece.

By the 1960s and 1970s the colleges no longer prioritised their upkeep, with new boathouses taking their place.

"They look magnificent in their time, but after a hundred years they've all gradually fallen away, sunk, or just fallen into disrepair so there's very few left now," Thomas said.

He explained that the New College barge had been purchased by a private buyer in the 1960s, and the current the owner now wanted to bring it back to Oxford, "almost like a repatriation".

"When it was built at the time it was quite an innovative design, so it's probably in quite good nick," he added.

Just explained he had lived on the New College barge between 1992 and 2001, when it had been moored in London.

"During that time, I came to appreciate just how special this vessel is, not only as an outstanding floating residence, but also as a surviving piece of Oxford's distinguished rowing history," he said.

It is currently moored near Weybridge in Surrey, with Just saying said he now wanted the boat to return to its historical home - on the Isis in Oxford.

"The barge has survived for generations," he said.

"It would be a fitting achievement to secure its future in the care of the institution whose name and history it carries."