The Corpus Christi Barge story

Before the boat houses in Oxford were built, a line of barges used to be moored along the banks of Christchurch meadow and acted as floating changing rooms and viewing platforms.

The first barge for Corpus Christi college was built in 1884 by T.G. Jackson (who also designed the Oriel barge). Repairs were made to her in 1905, but eventually degraded and Salters was commissioned to build a second barge in 1930.

This second, 1930 barge, is still in existence today and moored at Iffley in Oxford. The reason it still survives is because it has been maintained for decades by the Oxford College Barges Preservation Trust as a residence.

Along with the 'Univ', as the University College barge is known, the Corpus Christi barge is described by Robert Maccoun in 1971 as 'one of the most important surviving examples, in reasonable condition, of the barges very closely related to the Livery Company barges and the ships of long ago'.

The public continues to enjoy visiting the barge at open day viewings.

Read about the Livery Company barges

Read about the other college barges and see a clip of the Corpus in full glory in a 1967 film

A memorial barge

This well-proportioned craft was designed by Nathaniel Harrison FRIBA, a celebrated architect responsible for constructing and restoring many well-known Oxford buildings. It was built as a memorial barge, donated in memory of the Revd. Joseph Hooper Maude and Louis Edward Joseph Maude, father and son, both alumni of Corpus, who died at the Somme in 1916. The barge was commissioned by Mrs Maude and Dr Cecily Maude 'to fix a last glimpse of Louis, so characteristic of both him and his father ... the happy inspiration of a memorial barge took shape'. Scroll to the bottom of this page to read more about Louis.

'The elegantly poised pelican, the Corpus emblem, stands as a figurehead, its bowed neck seemingly echoing the line of the bow' and 'wooden railings, the lower portion of which are decorated by rectangular shields bearing the college arms and presumably those of the Maude family'.

Sadly the pelican is no more and while the wooden railings are also no longer in existence, a lion rampant on black, white, and red stripes - the Maude coat of arms - can still be seen on the stern of the Corpus barge.

The barge was constructed with elm, and oak below the water. 'There was to be an armchair and a Chesterfield, space for pictures and charts, a flagpole and staircase. The interior was to be of plain matchboarding not teak or oak' [underlined].

A 1943 inventory includes a roll of coconut matting, seat cushions, and cane chairs.

Timeline of the Corpus Christi Barge

1930 Corpus Christi Barge built by Salter Brothers

1956 Architectural Review article

1966 The Trust for the Preservation of Oxford College Barges founded

1969 The Corpus Christi Barge acquired by the OCBPT

The Corpus was acquired by the Oxford College Barges Preservation Trust with kind help from her previous owner and other Corpus alumni to protect her from further decline. The previous owner of the Corpus had seen the work done by the Trust to restore the Jesus College Barge, including an entirely new teak hull which was a perfect replica of the original.

The Pelican figurehead

The pelican figurehead which graced the prow of the Corpus Christi barge for many years was the Corpus Christi college emblem. The pelican was part of the personal seal of the college founder, Bishop Fox of Winchester. The emblem signifies Christ's sacrifice and was derived from a medieval legend where a pelican was believed to pierce its breast to feed its young with its blood, which became a metaphor for Christ sacrificing himself on the cross to redeem humanity.

The Corpus pelican in 1963 (credit R Lewis)

Corpus barge in 1963 (credit R Lewis)

1985 New hull on the Corpus Christi Barge

Pictured below: Putting a new steel hull on the Corpus in 1985. The boat can be seen in its mooring at the old Cherwell cut just upriver from Donnington Bridge. The mooring is rented from the Oxford Preservation Trust who own the land, including the beautiful Aston's Eyot, home of a rare colony of snakeshead fritilleries (native lilies).

'The Canadian maritime engineer, Robert Maccoun, was instrumental in the rebirth of this ageing vessel. His scheme to slip the 1930 Corpus commemoration barge into a steel hull, thus creating an envelope around the existing wooden one, was a success.'

In Maccoun's words from his 1971 Plan for the Oxford College Barges: "Little equipment or organisation are needed for the repair of the barges and since it is perfectly possible for one man to do a great deal of the work with occasional help, the overheads of boatyard or contractor are not always justifiable ....we have a mooring in the Kidney Stream near Donnington Bridge for any barge being worked on. The conditions here are suitable and it would be possible to build steel bottoms on the low bank, launch them and place them under the barges by means of our two narrow boats without having to slip the barges. All other categories of work can easily be accomplished here with little expense for plant, since the narrowboats can serve as working platforms for the exterior repairs."

1985 - 1997 Corpus Christi Barge used for student accommodation

1994 repainted

The Corpus Christi barge lays claim to the title of having hosted some of the best parties in Oxford. This is a simple truth, to which many will testify. One of the most notable of these occasions - lost some time in the mists of the 1960s - has gone down in history as the 'wear nothing but a hat' party when several, now very senior judges, were allegedly arrested wearing.... well, not very much.

As described at the time, 'college blades, draped classical statuary, posters and 'vin de table' lamps make up a student bedsit of sizeable and stylish proportions'.

2000 New committee for OCBPT

We continued the original Trust's sensible approach to ensuring security for the barge by maintaining it for residential use. Wooden boats are vulnerable and can be easily vandalised, so having people permanently on board gives security.

2001 - 2002 Extensive renovation

Including re-fitting the middle bedroom and the bathroom, and insulating the roof by about 1ft and laying quality roofing felt over the top.

Interiors of the Corpus Christi barge in 2014.

Nasir Hamid - simplyoxford.com

THE 21ST CENTURY

We, the Oxford College Barges Preservation Trust, have taken on the responsibility of preserving the remaining College Barges (or parts of) for future generations and - very importantly - to continue the rich tradition of wonderful parties and deliciously happy times.

In memoriam: Louis Maude

*The Corpus Christi roll of honour for the 1914-18 war contains the following:

MAUDE, Louis Edward Joseph (CCC 1910-1914)

Born Oxford, 14 July 1891, only son of the Revd Joseph Hooper Maude, Rector of Hilaray, Downham Market, Norfolk, and Louisa Frederica Grey [Fuller].
Educated Trinity College, Glenalmond 1905-1910.
Scholar; pass Classics Moderations 1912; 2 Literae Humaniores 1914; BA 1915. Secretary, Hockey 1912-1913, Captain 1913-1914; Secretary, Pelican Essay Club 1913; President 1913; Secretary, Owlets 1913, President 1913.
Civil Service exam 1914. GPO 1915.
Mother made a donation for the College Barge, in memoriam.
Military service WWI 1915-1916, membership of the University Contingent of the Officers’ Training Corps prior to 1915, (service commenced May 1915):
2nd Lieutenant, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. France. 1914-1915 Star. Killed in action at Fricourt on 1 July 1916 (aged 24).
From Pelican Record Vol. XIII, No. 4:

In Lewis Maude the Pelican Record has lost a very able and most entertaining contributor, whose humorous descriptions of the achievements of the various College Teams were a constant delight. A friend writes:

Maude was last seen carrying ammunition to his platoon across No Man’s Land. We are all, unhappily, too familiar with what is meant by No Man’s Land not to know that he died as a very brave soldier. And yet Maude was a soldier neither by inclination nor by training; he hated the very idea of fighting, and disliked physical pain and discomfort even more than most men. Yet knowing this and with a vivid imagination of what war means now, and in face of strong opposition from his department, he took a commission, gave up the comforts and occupations that he loved, and offered the life of an only son to his country. Surely no man is braver than the coward who knows what is before him but subdues his fears; and Maude was one who would have been a coward but for his indomitable moral courage, which never showed more gloriously than in this crowning self-sacrifice.

For four years he was a familiar, almost notorious, figure in Oxford. Eccentric in habit and bearing and careless of dress he was at once conspicuous even in Oxford. Lecturers must often have wondered what would be the ultimate fate in the schools of the florid untidy undergraduate who made pyramids of inkpots or carried on whispered conversations with his neighbour while they lectured. But they would have been astonished at the precision with which his mind had seized the subject of the lectures, and the lucid exposition he could subsequently give. In fact his mind was unceasingly active, and the secret of his eccentric bearing was that his mind worked upon the material given it too quickly for the supply, and his energy expended itself in movements of which his mind was often unconscious. No subject was too trivial or too abstruse to interest him, and he had thought, if not very deeply, on all subjects, at any rate far more widely than most men. Added to this he had a clear and trenchant literary style, and a graceful humour which made his academic work a pleasure to him and those who worked with him. His many-sided character only a complete biography could unfold to those who did not know him well, while to those who knew and loved him no words are necessary.

In life he was a good friend and a pleasant comrade; in death he was a good leader and a brave officer; in such a life and death there is truly nothing to regret, but the tragedy remains that a man who could do so much that was beyond the possibilities of others should have to die for what anyone could do as well.

This memorial tile to Louis Maude can be found at All Saints Church, Hilgay in Norfolk - he died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

It is translated:

"Louis Edward Joseph Maude, who died in the war for freedom, first day of July 1916 aged 25. Grant him eternal rest Lord."

Expand the picture to read his obituary from the Corpus Roll of Honour which gives an insight into this interesting young character.

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