Visit the gateway to the South Oxford Canal and learn about the people, culture, and economics that have played an important part in Oxford’s history for the last 200 years.

For 228 years Isis Lock has stood as the gateway to the Oxford Canal, allowing boats to access the Thames from as far a field as Manchester and Leeds and brining valuable goods to Oxford itself. Originally designed as the main link from the Warwickshire coal fields to West London, the Oxford Canal has always been a place of industry, but more than that it was a home. Boaters lived alongside their cargo on the narrowboats and developed a rich culture that survived largely unchanged until the mid-20th Century. With rail and road competition, the boaters and industries that kept the canal alive slowly declined. The South Oxford Canal became the home of the future, the birth of the canal leisure industry, that keeps over 2,000 miles of canal alive today.

Join us at the lockside to hear fun stories of the canal: how the canal was born from political corruption, where boater-kids attended school while constantly on the move, who were the women keeping canals going during wartime, what role the founder of Morris Motors played in saving the canal, and how local people work hard in Oxford to keep it going today.

Listen to the voices of the last boaters tell you in their own words what life was like, see a 90 year old narrowboat that served in the Blitz still working today, get hands on with canal objects over 100 years old, and see a 180 year old canal lock in action.

TALK: Isis Lock and the Boatmen's Floating Chapel - 11:00am Saturday & Sunday

Built by convicts, Isis (or Louse) Lock was of national importance when it was first opened. Its subsequent history is one of ingenuity and elegance, but also of tragedy. The Floating Chapel was also ingenious, a philanthropic initiative to provide a convivial place of worship and education for an otherwise neglected sector of society. Presented by author and local historian, Mark Davies.

TALK: Secrets of the Oxford Canal - 15:00pm Saturday & Sunday

An unofficial history of the waterway, as told by two members of the traditional narrowboat community. The lives of Jack and Rose Skinner (now deceased) provide a glimpse into a parallel world of which most land-dwellers are unaware. We owe them more than we know. Presented by author and local historian, Catherine Robinson.

This event is run by the Canal & River Trust, the UK's largest canal charity.

• Disabled access: Walton Well Road Bridge has smooth sloped access 650m North of the Lock where it is flat tarmac all the way. Rewley Road Bridge has a path access over a humpback bridge 70m West, but the bridge’s surface may be difficult to navigate for wheelchairs
• Children's activities available: Hands on history artefacts, canal boat crafts, and eye-spy take-away packs

Above picture: Isis Lock and its roving bridge