Registered Charity Number 1197524
A History at The Heart Of The Community
This sketch of Victorian Bude was made from about where the sea pool is now. It shows, from left to right:
the Strand, the Castle, the Falcon Hotel, ships in the canal, and the Church of St Michael and All Angels.
The church dominated both the skyline and the lives of its parishioners. It was a beacon for those in peril on the sea and a safe haven for those ashore.
The Church of St Michael and All Angels was built by Sir Thomas Acland, the great West Country magnate, philanthropist and High Churchman, in 1834. It was originally a Chapel of Ease for Stratton Church and later became the parish church of Bude Haven. Situated in what was termed Sir Thomas’s “park”, 50 yards from the Falcon Hotel, St Michael’s was designed by George Wightwick, a prolific Cornish architect.
He was an associate of Pugin’s and a champion of the Gothic Revival, a picturesque style featuring pointed arches, steep roofs and decorative tracery. Less fashionably Wightwick favoured short chancels, so that nothing should come between the congregation and the altar. Constructing St Michael’s from gold-coloured stone quarried from another Acland property, Trerice-in-Newlyn, Wightwick created a little gem out of medieval romance. It was enlarged in 1878, lovingly cherished thereafter and given Grade II listed status in 1985.
No building in Bude is more worthy of preservation.
