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Discover Bude and North Tamar - Where Coast meets Countryside
When you discover Bude you'll find the whole area offers so much to do!
In Bude you can kick off your shoes and enjoy the sand and sea between your toes whilst enjoying the history and heritage of the area - in the surrounding villages and countryside it's the rural way that sets the pace of life with Countrypubs, farm shops, attractions and of course village life all waiting to be discovered by you.
Bude's history in a seashell?
The town of Bude has a rich and colourful history. The name itself comes from the Middle Ages, when Bude was nothing more than a chapel on a rock.The rock on which the chapel stood is now part of the breakwater and still carries the name "Chapel Rock". By the 18th century Bude was a thriving port with goods being shipped mainly to and from Ireland, Bristol and Wales. With trade growing fast so did Bude. Warehouses were built and many cottages sprung up to house tradesmen, workers and captains. Over the next 80 years Bude flourished, but with the turn of the century sea trade started diminishing. The small fishing fleet wasn't enough to keep all men at work and Bude was forced to find a new future. The railway came to the rescue. Bude was connected to the rest of the Country and thousands of holiday makers arrived for their summer holidays. Today, tourism is still one of Budes main employers and although the railway line is long gone, Bude's tourism trade is going from strength to strength.
The Bude Canal - Regeneration underway - new visitor centre opening 2008.
The Bude Canal was built to transport sand, coal and limestone to farms in rural North-Cornwall and North-Devon to improve the crops and soil. With its arms stretching all the way to the Tamar Lakes, past Holsworthy and as far as Launceston, it was a welcome waterway to carry goods further inland. First thought of in 1774 when a 91 mile incline plane canal was on the cards,a substantially less ambitious canal was finally opened in 1823. With the opening of the canal both canal basins were developed - Petherick's storehouse, now converted into flats, still stands proudly at the higher basin, together with Petherick's mill. Down at the lower basin the Brasserie, the Barkhouse and the old Museum (which used to be a smithy) still tell their tale.
Sadly, the Canal fell into disuse over the last century, mother Nature reclaimed the land and only a small stretch, from Bude to Helebridge, remained navigable. However, thanks to the Bude Canal Regeneration Project work has now started to restore the canal to its original beauty and genius! Over the next two years, many original features of the canal will be restored, including the locks, bridges, towpaths & lower wharf. The Canal Regeneration is linked to the refurbishment of Bude Castle as a Bude Heritage & Exhibition Centre - doors for this open in July 2007 when Sir Goldsworthy Gurneys former home will be open to the public. In late 2007 and opening in 2008 a brand-new extension to the Bude Tourist Information Centre will be built where you will find an informative interpretation area, telling you so much more about the Canal. For more information on progress with the Bude Canal Regeneration Project go to www.ncdc.gov.uk/budecanal.
Sir Goldsworthy Gurney
Budes Famous Son -Sir Goldsworthy Gurney was a Cornish inventor whose genious changed many peoples lives. Qualified as a Doctor at the age of 20 he gave up medicine to experiment with steam engines. He constructed both a steam driven boat and a coach. He also invented a better form of lighting for lighthouses and realised if each lighthouse had a different flashing system, then sailors could know which lighthouse they were looking at. Gurney solved the existing problems of producing a bright light with his Bude Light. He used a standard oil lamp to produce a flame, and then introduced oxygen gas into the middle of the flame. The unburned carbon in the oil flame burned incredibly brightly and an intense, white light was produced from the weak yellow flame of the oil lamp. He used a single Bude Light to light Bude Castle - with a system of prisms and lenses to distribute the light into every room. And he could redirect it to light a room in the Falcon Hotel which was 400 metres away across the canal. Gurney built Bude Castle in 1830 to prove that a house could be built on sand with the use of a concrete raft. He improved theatre lighting which used "limelight" with his "Bude Light". These lights were fitted in The House of Commons and also in Trafalgar Square where replicas of the two styles originally used can still be seen. The "Gurney Stove" another invention which he patented in 1856 was extensively used to heat buildings. Many of these stoves are still in use to this day. In 2000, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and his Bude Light were commemorated by the erection of a slender and colourful cone just in front of the Bude Castle the new Bude Light.
