Summary

Sea lock, lock gates and hand winches. Built in 1819. The lock gates have been replaced. Designed by the engineer, James Green.

Description

Sea lock, lock gates and hand winches. Built in 1819. The lock gates have been replaced. Designed by the engineer, James Green.

MATERIALS: stone rubble walls with granite coping stones. Timber lock gates. Cast iron hand-winches.

DESCRIPTION: the sea lock forms the entrance to the Bude Canal from the sea. The stone rubble walls of the rectangular lock basin have granite coping stones and are rounded to the seaward end where they include courses of granite. The walls are rebated for the two pairs of timber lock gates; the gates have been replaced. The cast iron hand-winches to each sea gate are in two-centred arch frames.

History

The sea lock at Bude, with its associated lock gates and hand-winches, was built in 1819 and designed by the engineer James Green as part of his scheme for the Bude Canal where he pioneered the use of tub boats for the transportation of goods. Bude Canal, the longest tub boat canal in England, linked Bude with Holsworthy in Devon and Launceston in Cornwall, and was financed by the Bude Harbour and Canal Company and constructed between 1818 and 1825. It was used primarily to transport sea sand inland to be used as manure, and the sea lock, built with a depth of about 4.5m at average spring tides, permitted the docking of sea-going vessels of up to 300 tonnes in the canal basin where cargoes were transferred. The lock gates have been replaced in subsequent years.

James Green (1781-1849), who had worked under the engineer John Rennie the Elder, was the Surveyor of Bridges and Buildings for the County of Devon, a post he held from 1818 to 1841.

Reasons for Listing

The sea lock, lock gates and hand winches in Bude, Cornwall are listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* by the nationally important engineer, James Green;
* for its technologically innovative design that utilises the high tides to enable the transportation of material inland;
* for the high survival of historic fabric, including the original stone walls and cast iron hand-winches.

Historic interest:

* as a fundamental part of the Bude Canal that pioneered the use of tub boats in the transportation of goods on canals.

Group value:

* with a number of designated structures along the Bude Canal including bridges and inclined planes.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535298

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)