Drama teacher at Cheney School, Mr Simmonds, has been appointed as Education Director by the new owner of the Magdalen College Barge. The historic barge was bought on 20th September from The Swan hotel at Streatley by professional boat builder Paul Austin-Clark, who plans to restore the boat to its former glory and reopen it as an educational and recreational facility.
All 23 Oxford colleges had a barge in the late 1800s, used as a changing room for rowers, a clubhouse and a viewing platform for watching the races. However, as the popularity of rowing increased, large land-based boathouses were preferred. This second Magdalen barge, built in 1927, was the last one to be built and is unique; the only one with a ferro-concrete wall as opposed to wood. It was built by L.G. Mouchel and Partners of London who were pioneers in construction of ferroconcrete floating buildings and vessels at that time. In service until 1946 on completion of the boathouse, it was then sold to Oxford boatbuilders, Talboys and used as a store. Later it was used as a private houseboat before being purchased in 1979 for £15,000 by the MD of Gulliver Hotels, to serve as a ‘floating function room’ for the new owners of the Swan at Streatley.
The Magdalen College Barge has now moved to its new mooring at Hardwick House on the River Thames. New owner Paul, reports:
“It is really great to see the amount of interest and support that this project is receiving…contacting us via the gofundme page we have already had help and many enquiries from the local community. Julian’s ideas linking to schools this piece of living history, is just the thing we need to breathe life into the space!“
Paul has developed partnerships with Schools, Colleges and Theatres in preparation for the launch in 2024. He has appointed Julian Simmonds as the Education Director, who is excited by the possibilities this partnership offers:
“We look forward to using it as a potential performance and workshop venue and it is a great first-time project for our documentary filmmakers to chart the restoration of this historic barge.”
More information about the restoration of the barge can be found here.