Sea lock, lock gates and hand winches
Lower Wharf, Bude-Stratton, Cornwall
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1328520
- Date first listed:
- 09-Sept-1985
- List Entry Name:
- Sea lock, lock gates and hand winches
- Statutory Address:
- Lower Wharf, Bude-Stratton, Cornwall
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2005-04-06
- Reference:
- IOE01/13954/18
- Rights:
- © Mr Brian French. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1328520
- Date first listed:
- 09-Sept-1985
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 15-May-2018
- List Entry Name:
- Sea lock, lock gates and hand winches
- Statutory Address 1:
- Lower Wharf, Bude-Stratton, Cornwall
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Lower Wharf, Bude-Stratton, Cornwall
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Bude-Stratton
- National Grid Reference:
- SS2039406425
Summary
Sea lock, lock gates and hand winches. Built in 1819. The lock gates have been replaced. Designed by the engineer, James Green.
Reasons for Designation
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.
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.
Details
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.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 64771
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Other
Cornwall and Scilly Historic Environment Record, BUDE - Post Medieval lock, SMR No: 97.01 - MCO47177
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 18-Jun-2026 at 11:08:33.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.