Bude Bay

Bude Bay opens from the north Cornish coast into the Celtic Sea, where Atlantic swell meets jagged sandstone reefs and a narrow river mouth. The River Neet, also called the Strat, reaches the bay beside a small quay and shingle beaches. Strong tides, shifting sand and exposed rocks made the coast difficult for shipping, while the surrounding cliffs and beaches supplied the harbour with sea sand valued for improving inland soil.

A haven called Bede’s Haven was remembered from the Middle Ages, when a hermitage stood on the rock near the entrance. The quay was rebuilt in 1577 with support from the Blanchminster charity. Small vessels used Bude as a port during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, carrying Cornish goods along the Bristol Channel and bringing imported supplies into the north of the county. Royalist troops crossed the river here during the English Civil War.

The early nineteenth century brought a canal, warehouses and a breakwater that strengthened the harbour and the sand trade. Farmers used the imported sand to improve heavy upland soils, while lime and coal passed in the other direction. Bude Bay remained exposed to Atlantic storms, and navigation depended on local knowledge of tides, reefs and the river entrance.