Thrupp is a hamlet on the southern Oxford Canal with origins going right back to the early days of the canal, when it was finally extended south from Banbury to its terminus at Oxford. Its row of canalside cottages between the Boat Inn and the service wharf were once the homes of families with links to the canal, some of whom would possibly have worked in the canal maintainance yard on the other side of the lift bridge.

The yard is now the home of 'Annie's Tea Room', and day-boats and canoes can also be hired out from here.

For the boater, the wharf provides access to water points, elsan disposal, pump out (self or card operated - cards from the warden), waste disposal and a glass bottle bank.

For the walker there are a number of well-signposted walks around in the area - look out for signs for Hampton Gay, Shipton on Cherwell and the circular walk to Kidlington.

Looking more like a lake than a narrow canal, the Wide is actually the original course of the River Cherwell.

When the last part of the Oxford Canal between Banbury and Oxford was built at the end of the eighteenth century, money was in short supply and everything possible was done to reduce construction costs. This resulted in locks with single bottom gates, a large number of moveable bridges and using the Cherwell for navigation in two places.

Above Shipton, a weir was built across the river to maintain a level, and the surplus water was run into an artificial channel that runs alongside the Wide and then reconnects with the original line of the river further on.