Bude Sea Pool — Bude, Cornwall

📷 More photos

💡 5 things to know

1. Free by conditionAccording to the Friends of Bude Sea Pool, the Thynnes pledged just over half the total budget, and their only condition was that the pool be free to everyone, irrespective of income. Source Source Reported
2. Refilled by the tideThe walls sit lower than the high-water line, so the tide refreshes the pool; the Friends say no pumps or power are needed to refresh the water or keep its level. Source Source Reported
3. Saved from demolitionWhen pressure on council budgets threatened the pool, and by the Friends’ account demolition was being discussed, Cornwall Council agreed a 99-year lease with the Friends of Bude Sea Pool; the management handover was on 30 March 2012. Source Source Source Checked
4. Drained every yearThe pool is drained each year for maintenance; in 2023 the Friends announced on 22 May that it had reopened after the work. Source Source Checked
5. Twenty lengths a mileIn the Friends’ Channel Challenge fundraiser, 20 lengths of the pool count as one mile, so the 22-mile English Channel is 440 lengths. Source Reported

📍 Where it is

🗓️ Sightings

1. 193010 Jul

   Officially opened to the public

2. 20123 Jan

   Photographed in a winter gale · camera date

3. 201230 Mar

   Management handed to the Friends

4. 201623 Aug

   Aerial photo, pool full of summer swimmers · camera date

5. 202229 Jan

   Photographed from Chapel Rock · camera date

6. 202322 May

   Reopened after the yearly drain

7. 202621 May

   Minutes: maintenance completed on schedule

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

🗞️ In the sources

✅ The facts

Opened

10 July 1930 Source Source Source Checked

Funded by

The Thynne family, local estate owners: half the money (Wikipedia), just over half (Friends). The Friends put the budget at around £4,000; a 5 January 1929 newspaper extract quoted by the Cornish & Devon Post says an unnamed local landowner promised £2,500 of an estimated £4,000 Source Source Source Reported

Designer / builder

No named designer or contractor found; the Friends credit the Thynnes with designing and creating the pool Source Unconfirmed

Size

Sources differ: about 88 × 43 m (290 × 140 ft), not symmetrical (Wikipedia); 91 × 45 m (Cornish & Devon Post, 2024); 90 × 45 m at its largest (Geograph photo note, 2012). We lean to ‘about 90 × 45 m at most’ as the pool is irregular and no survey figure was found Source Source Source Conflicting

Volume

About 4,000 cubic metres, depending on how much sand the sea washes in, according to Wikipedia Source Reported

Run by

Friends of Bude Sea Pool, registered charity no. 1143156 Source Source Checked

Charity formed

2011 (May 2011 per Wikipedia), after council funding was withdrawn in 2010 Source Source Checked

Lease

99 years, agreed by Cornwall Council; management handed over 30 March 2012 Source Checked

Entry

Free; according to the Friends, a condition set by the original funders Source Source Reported

Heritage listing

None verified; no listing record was found in the sources opened Source Unconfirmed

Status

In use: the Friends’ minutes of 21 May 2026 record the maintenance work as completed on schedule; newest dated photograph 29 January 2022 Source Reported

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Last checked: 10 November 2026 · How we verify art