St Michael & All Angels

It was designed by the Welsh architect George Wightwick (who built many other buildings in Bude). St Michael's was originally built as a Chapel of Ease to nearby Stratton church, and only later became the parish church of Bude Haven as the town expanded with the advent of the London and South Western Railway in the 1890s and its new found popularity as a holiday resort, somewhat sharply described by John Betjeman as ‘an East Anglian resort facing the wrong way’.  

There are no printed records earlier than the third incumbency, but it is clear that the liturgy at St Michael always embraced the fullness of English traditional worship which is so cherished here today.

The church has many interesting features which have to be seen to be appreciated. The sanctuary light in front of the high altar indicates that the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. As many visitors have testified, the church is filled with the tangible Presence of Christ and his Peace. St Michael is blessed with many beautiful stained-glass windows.

The magnificent east window above the high altar depicts, centrally, Christ the King, with Archangels Michael and Gabriel beneath. In the children’s chapel the three small windows depict the Nativity, Christ’s Presentation in the Temple, and Christ teaching in the Temple.

Notable among the ornamental features are the 14 Stations of the Cross. The pulpit is a memorial to the fourth Vicar, Henry Owen Hall, its base is of Cornish granite and Polyphant stone, the top being of richly carved oak. The lectern, a carved oak eagle was also a memorial to Fr Hall.

The graveyard is testimony to this treacherous coast on which St Michael is placed, which has always had a fearful reputation among mariners. Over the centuries, the sheer cliffs and jutting reefs have wrecked hundreds of vessels and claimed countless seafarers, some of whom are buried here.