Beryl was built in 1961 by EC Jones of Brentford. She is a River Class butty. There were 26 River Class boats built, named after rivers with three letters in their name i.e. Wye, Rye, Axe, Exe, Ray etc. However after 24 boats they ran out of rivers with three letters in the name. So the last pair were called after the boatbuilder's wife and daughter - Anne the motor boat, Beryl the butty. The River Class was the last class of working narrowboat built - a last attempt to make the waterways commercially viable. Beryl thus has a place in waterways history. There were occasional commissions for working boats in the years that followed - though I'm not aware of any butty boats having been built since. But regardless of that Beryl does represent in many ways the end of the line. She was originally intended to be the beginning of a new one - the experimental beginnings of a new class of boat. Apparently she was designed to have a removable back cabin - so the boatman's home could be craned out of one boat and into another so that when he reached his destination he could take over a ready filled boat immediately! Beryl was sent on a few trial runs. She carried limejuice to the Roses factory in Rugby. She probably also carried concrete at some stage.

The previous owner, Steve Stokes, bought her in 1985. At that stage only the back cabin was in place. Steve added the cabin over what is now the living room. I bought Beryl in June 1988 and added the studio.

Surveyor Ian Burgoyne described Beryl as 'a massive construction to a standard that could not be achieved by today's boatbuilders'. She's been dubbed a 'tank' by a couple of other surveyors. The hull is without doubt heavily over-engineered. 10mm bottom, 6mm sides, 3mm back cabin roof. (The remaining cabin roof has half-inch wisaform sides, one-inch marine ply roof with timber beams). All the sheet joins on the hull are covered by overlapping strips, all the welding is continuous and to a very high standard. The carbon steel used in construction is also of a very high grade - in contrast to the recycled steel with high levels of impurities which tends to be used these days. The whole is strengthened by 'knees' every 3 feet.

The front locker has been converted to a water tank. The outboard is a Yamaha 15 petrol engine. Quotes for fitting an inboard engine have costed the job at around £3000. There is a certificate of compliance (safety certificate) in force until 2002.

Beryl's mooring is in Oxford. British Waterways plan official residential moorings on the Oxford Canal in North Oxford. Beryl is currently top of the list for one of these. BW has undertaken to transfer mooring rights as soon as the residential moorings have won approval.

Currently mooring and license charges come to about £1500 p.a. Insurance is about £220 p.a. Other bills for residential use are low; the only one of significance being gas which powers the electric generator, cooking, heating, hot water and fridge. During the summer this in one or two pounds per week. During the winter heating costs around £12 - £15 p.w. depending on usage.

Residential boats in Oxford are a good investment from a letting point of view. It is relatively easy to achieve £5500 - £6000 p.a. (gross before mooring fees and tax) and there is considerable demand for boats to rent. The city has a large student population, and many want to live afloat.