Cambria is a unique historic vessel, being the last British merchant vessel still in trade and powered only by sails right up to 1970. Since then, she has been a "museum ship" at the Maritime Trust (St Katherine Dock, London) and has later been preserved by the Cambria Trust at Dolphin Yard in Sittingbourne, and at Sheerness.
In 2007 the Cambria Trust secured a £990,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery fund and was able to bring her to Faversham (she arrived on Hop Festival Day in 2007), where she will be fully and professionally restored by a team of shipwrights led by Master Shipwright Tim Goldsack.
Restorers are about two-thirds of the way through this three-year project and it is progressing very well. The barge and a visitor centre are open to the public from 11am to 3pm on Sundays, and the project was included in the Faversham's Open House scheme in 2008 and 2009. The Trust has also put on two exhibitions at the town's Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre. Cambria is a popular attraction and a valuable part of the regeneration of Standard Quay, now busy with small businesses and a Sunday flea market.
For more information, see the project's website (www.cambriatrust.org.uk) or contact the project manager, William Collard, or the trust secretary, Basil Brambleby, on cambriatrustsecretary@live.co.uk. Visitors are welcome to come to see the project, either on one of the open Sundays or by appointment with Basil or William.