The Castle and walls to the north-west and south-east

SS 2006-2106 11/158

BUDE-STRATTON BUDE The Castle and walls to the north-west and south-east

II

House. 1830, with late C20 alterations. Built for Sir Goldsworthy Gurney. Stone rubble with hipped slate roofs hidden behind parapet and brick chimneys and slate pots, partly hung with large slates to the rear. Picturesque irregular house. Piano nobile and basement to main range, two storeys elsewhere. Long low asymmetrical front with three-bay main range and slightly advanced castellated entrance wing to the left with double flight of steps behind piers and walls up to entrance. Two further set back bays to the left are also castellated. Two set back bays to the right of the main range and a castellated turret link the main range to a further two-bay castellated block and a single bay castellated block to the right. Entrance wing and main front one + three windows, the centre one broken forward with original six-panel front door on front at right of entrance wing. Three round-headed basement windows have high transoms and barred glazing in heads. Three first floor C19 windows are twelve-pane hornless sashes, voussoirs repaired with cement. Platband under parapet with slits is also repaired in cement. Long C19 four-pane sash window in entrance wing to left of front door. C19 horned sashes to right hand wing. Interior altered for Council Offices. Castellated boundary walls to north-west and south-east.

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, doctor, engineer and philanthropist developed the steam carriage with the intention of improving public transport. Between 1839 and 1842 he was granted a patent for the Bude Light using manganese and was eventually invited to design the lighting and ventilation in the Houses of Parliament. He was also involved in schemes to improve safety in the mining industry. He built the Castle on land leased from Sir Thomas Dyke Acland. The design of the Castle included an early use of concrete foundations to counteract the instability of the sandy site, and it was at the Castle that Gurney evolved the Bude Light.

Listing NGR: SS2060606374