The world famous Museum of Witchcraft is located in the beautiful North Cornwall harbour village of Boscastle and houses the worlds largest collection of Witchcraft related artefacts and regalia.
The museum's history is as fascinating as its collection. It was first founded on the Isle of Man By Cecil Williamson in 1951.
Cecil's lifelong interest in Witchcraft and magic began with his first encounter with old West country Witchcraft as a child in the Devon village of North Bovey when he was befriended by the local Witch after defending the elderly woman from a group of thugs who suspected her of bewitching cattle. As an adult he investigated the Craft of African Witchdoctors whilst working on a tobacco plantation in Rhodesia. He continued his fascination in Britain in the 1930's mixing with leading experts of the day and even worked as an agent for MI6 collating the Occult interests of the Nazis.
In 1951 Cecil opened the first museum in the Witches Mill on the Isle of Man. Gerald Gardner who he had first met in 1946 was employed as "Resident Witch". Having very different ideas of Witchcraft and the direction in which the museum should go; their working relationship and friendship broke down and in 1954 Williamson sold the building and some of the collection to Gardner and moved his museum to Windsor, however Royal officials were not happy with the idea of a Witchcraft museum and suggested that perhaps it should be located somewhere else... and so Cecil relocated again to the Cotswold village of Bourton-on-the-Water where local Christians subjected him to death threats, strung dead cats up in his garden trees and repeatedly fire-bombed his museum. And so the final relocation took Cecil and his museum to Boscastle in 1960 where it remains today.
Cecil was very much interested in the Craft of the "wayside Witch". He was fascinated by the Old ways of rural village Witchcraft and disapproved of the modern Craft of Wicca which he viewed as far to formal and Ceremonial in comparison to the simple ways of Traditional Witchcraft. He was very private about his own beliefs but he was certainly a magical practitioner himself.
The Museum's vast collection has a strong bias toward artefacts relating to traditional Westcountry Witchcraft and holds a huge collection of charms and magical items. It is of extreme value and definitely a "must visit" for anyone interested the ways of old Westcountry Witchcraft and folk magic. There is also an extensive and fascinating collection of artefacts relating to modern Witchcraft and houses artefacts belonging to many of the 'big names' of Wicca.
The museum is owned and run today by Graham King who purchased the Museum from Williamson at midnight on Halloween 1996. Cecil Williamson died at the age of 90 in 1999.
Video clips featuring both Cecil Williamson and Graham King can be found in the Videos section of the Archive.
The museum and its precious collection has survived after being devastated by the worst floods in modern British history which hit the little village of Boscastle on the 16th of August 2004. After the enormous efforts of the museum team and volunteers the museum and its collection were restored and bounced back better than ever with the reopening on the 25th of March 2005. The costs however were huge and the museum was placed under a financial strain from which it is still struggling to recover. The museum is an extremely valuable resource and there are a number of ways in which we can help:
- Visit the museum!
- Purchase the CD Songs of Witchcraft
- Join the 'Friends' scheme
- Make a PayPal donation
The Museum of Witchcraft has produced a fascinating CD "Songs of Witchcraft" a wonderful collection of fifteen tracks of Witchcraft related traditional folk songs to be released on May 1st.
To pre-order your CD Contact the Museum for details. The CD Can also be ordered via the Occult Art Company where the Museum's two previous CD's "Chanting I" and "Chanting II" and other items can be purchased.
To join The Friends of the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft which will allow you to attend special 'Friends' events and receive the 'Friends' newsletter visit the website for details:
To make a PayPal donation to the Museum of Witchcraft simply visit the museum's website where you will find a donate button on the home page.
