IT IS a pity that the picture on page four of last week's 'Post' of the Strand 80 years ago labels the the river as the Neet when it is the Strat. The river appeared in the Ordnance Survey maps up till 1954 as the Strat when the name was changed at the behest of a Mrs Jewell who claimed that it had always been known as the Neet.

This is manifestly untrue as the Official Bude Town Guide of 1946 has a picture of the Strand with the caption, 'The River Strat, Bude', Cornwall Rivers Project showing river catchments lists the Neet as 'a tributary of the river Strat which reaches the sea at Bude'.

I have a copy of a map of 1904 (also held by the by the Bude Stratton Town Council) showing the canal reaching the sea which labels the river as 'Strat'. A map of Bude of the 1860s shows the river through Bude, 'River Strat', as does the the Ordnance Survey map of 1883/84.;

Bude Urban District Council (UDC) in 1954 said that it was the Neet without producing any evidence for the statement beyond that of a Professor Skeat who said that Neet is the Celtic name of a water (river or lake) so that locals would refer to any stream near their village or enclosure by this name.

The Ordnance Survey changed their maps in response to Mrs Jewell and the Bude UDC. They acknowledged the evidence I produced and Stratton RDCs agreement but said that North Cornwal District Council and Cornwall County Council each said the name was Neet but giving no evidence. Ordnance Survey accepted those opinions.

As Stratton was a market town when Bude was a small dying-out harbour with some few fishermen's cottages, I am inclined to believe that the 'Budites' resented the name of the river reaching through Bude having a name reminiscent of Stratton!

Lower Upton,

Bude.