The Bude Canal was first proposed in 1774 and an Act was passed in May of that year. The idea was to link the Bristol and English Channels via the River Tamar. Bude sand, Welsh Coal, limestone, manure, timber, mining products, agricultural produce and domestic supplies were to be the cargoes. However it took until 1819 for work to being on the canal when Lord Stanhope laid the first stone of the harbour breakwater and cut the first sod of the canal basin. In July 1823 the canal officially opened. In 1823 and 1824 the canal needed loans to complete the works but by then 100 boats we already working on the canal. Work was completed in 1825 with a total cost of £120,000. In 1884 one of the main merchants stopped trading and efectively ended the canals commercial future. In 1891 there was an Act of Parliament abandoning some sections of the canal, but keeping the harbour. In 1902 the canal was handed over to the council, sea trade coninued. Sand traffic stopped in the 1940s and coal trade stopped in 1964.
The River Lock is big enough to let sea going ships into the basins. The first 2 miles of canal up to Marhamchurch is barge canal. The rest was designed for tub boats.Altogether the final completed canal was 35 and a half miles. Inclined planes were used to raise the wheeled tub boats up the hillsides. There were six altogether at Marhamchurch, Hobbacott Down, Vealand, Merrifield, Tamerton, and Werrington. The planes were water powered with a bucket-in-a-well system or waterwheels to pull wheeled boats up a metal rail track. |
