In a tiny town in Cornwall, a beautiful English region with a history full of legends and bizarre characters, is this small but important museum, which houses the largest collection of artifacts related to witchcraft.
Witches? Yes, you got it right.
The lady who opened it in 1951 (originally on the Isle of Man) was a great lover of potions and occult books, and she thought it best to collect all her "souvenirs" in one place available to enthusiasts and the curious. If you are planning a trip to these parts, behave yourself: you can't mess with witches!
The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, formerly known as the Museum of Witchcraft, is a museum dedicated to European witchcraft and magic located in the village of Boscastle in Cornwall, south-west England. It houses exhibits devoted to folk magic, ceremonial magic, Freemasonry, and Wicca, with its collection of such objects having been described as the largest in the world.
The museum was founded by the English folk magician Cecil Williamson in 1951 to display his own personal collection of artefacts. Initially known as the Folklore Centre of Superstition and Witchcraft, it was located in the town of Castletown on the Isle of Man. Williamson was assisted at the museum by the prominent Wiccan Gerald Gardner, who remained there as "resident witch". After their friendship deteriorated, Gardner purchased it from Williamson in 1954, renaming it the Museum of Magic and Witchcraft. Gardner's Castletown museum remained open until the 1970s, when Gardner's heir Monique Wilson sold its contents to the Ripley's company.
In 1954, Williamson opened his own rival back in England, known as the Museum of Witchcraft. Its first location was at Windsor, Berkshire, and the next at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire; in both cases it faced violent opposition and Williamson felt it necessary to move, establishing the museum in Boscastle in 1960.
In 1996 Williamson sold the museum to Graham King, who incorporated the Richel collection of magical regalia from the Netherlands in 2000. The museum was damaged and part of its collection lost during the Boscastle flood of 2004. In 2013 ownership was transferred to Simon Costin and his Museum of British Folklore.
The museum is a popular tourist attraction and is held in high esteem by the British occult community. A charity, Friends of the Museum of Witchcraft, has been established to raise funds for the exhibits. The museum also contains a large library on related topics that is accessible to researchers.
After the Second World War, the former film producer Cecil Williamson decided to move into the museum sector and, probably influenced by personal interest, he decided to open one dedicated to the theme of witchcraft. Williamson tried to open a museum to preserve his collection of occult and witchcraft artifacts in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1947, but faced local opposition and had to abandon his plans.
He then decided to open it in Castletown on the Isle of Man, an area that had much folklore surrounding fairies and witches, a tourist season, and local laws that were congenial to setting up a museum. He had it installed in an old dilapidated mill known locally as the Witches Mill which he had purchased in 1948 and, on the advice of his wife, opened an adjacent restaurant, known as the Witches' Kitchen.
The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic
Address: The Harbour, PL35 0HD
Phone: +44 1840 250111
Site:
https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/Location inserted by
giulia