Museum Exhibits

From prehistoric to modern day Bude, you can immerse yourself in the rich heritage this small town gives to its visitors. We have over fifteen exhibits at the centre, all free entry and open seven days a week.

Find out about the Bude formation, a distinctive rock formation unique to this area. During the 1930’s, a fossil fish was discovered within the Bude formation and named Cornuboniscus Budensis. See the fossil on display, which has not been found anywhere else in the world. Further displays include shipbuilding and shipwrecks, featuring Bude’s most famous wreck, the Bencoolen. Maritime links continue, with a display on Bude’s little known link to probably the most famous wreck of all, the Titanic. Also featured downstairs, is an exhibit about the railway, documenting its history and subsequent demise in Bude through a series of interesting artefacts.

Exhibits continue with the Bude Canal. Discover the story behind this unique waterway, with its working sea-lock and its historical importance to Bude. A detailed model shows how goods were transported uphill via the inclined plane, a feat of Victorian engineering. D-Day provides a link to Bude’s more modern past, with US Rangers using the cliffs of Bude to practice before heading to the beaches of Normandy. An exhibit shares some of the memories of the Rangers in Bude by local residents.

Upstairs, there are rooms dedicated to Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, featuring both his inventions and fascinating artefacts from his personal life. Also featured are a number of paintings depicting local scenes and information on the Battle of Stratton, fought during the English Civil war. At the end of the corridor. Our newly opened exhibit about Bude’s unsung heroes tells the tales of lifesaving in the community and at sea.  The Storm Tower room lends knowledge to how the fondly referred to ‘Pepperpot’ or ‘Compass Point’ has had a vital role to play in Bude’s heritage and the story behind the historical move from the edge of the cliff edge.

All our heritage exhibits have free entry and open daily from 10am. To find out more about them, head over to view our monthly guide. All our rooms in which the heritage exhibits are situated are dog-friendly spaces.