2004 Boscastle flood

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.

The River Valency (Cornish: Dowr an Velinji) is a short river in north Cornwall, England, UK, with many small tributaries. After running past Lesnewth it cuts a valley before entering the sea at the harbour of the village of Boscastle. One of its tributaries is the Jordan, which runs 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north before joining the Valency in Boscastle just before the B3263 road bridge. The Valency valley is steep-sided and the sides of the lower section are wooded. The valley has been flooded many times, most seriously in the Boscastle flood of 2004 when significant channel erosion occurred. (Heavy rainfall for 7 hours over a wide area in the afternoon of 16 August 2004 led to severe flooding and structural damage.) The agricultural use and fast drainage within the catchment areas of the Valency and Jordan are related to the extent of the Boscastle flooding.

Boscastle (Cornish: Kastel Boterel) is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster (where the 2011 Census population was included) . It is 14 miles (23 km) south of Bude and 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Tintagel. The harbour is a natural inlet protected by two stone harbour walls built in 1584 by Sir Richard Grenville and is the only significant harbour for 20 miles (32 km) along the coast. The village extends up the valleys of the River Valency and River Jordan. Heavy rainfall on 16 August 2004 caused extensive damage to the village. Boscastle lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The South West Coast Path passes through the village.

Forrabury and Minster is a civil parish on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish was originally divided between the coastal parish of Forrabury and inland parish of Minster until they were united on the 1st of April 1919.The parish was in the Registration District of Camelford. It is bounded to the north by the Atlantic; to the east by the parishes of St Juliot, Lesnewth and Davidstow; to the south by Camelford parish (ecclesiastical parish of Lanteglos by Camelford); and to the west by Trevalga parish. The population of Forrabury and Minster parish in the 2001 census was 888, which decreased slightly to 838 at the 2011 census.

Willapark (grid reference SX090913) is a 317-foot high promontory just south of Boscastle on the north coast of Cornwall in South West England. It is the site of an Iron Age hill fort and a small nineteenth century folly, now a coastguard lookout.

Boscastle Slate Quarries are a series of disused coastal quarries between Willapark and Trevalga on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England.

The civil parishes to which the Forrabury and Minster parish churches belong were united in 1919 to form Forrabury and Minster parish, within Cornwall, England, UK. The main settlement in the parish is Boscastle. The two rectories had been united in 1800.The original Forrabury / Minster boundary crossed the river so the harbour end of the village was in Forrabury and the upriver area in Minster. The churches were established some time earlier than the settlement at Boscastle (in Norman times when a castle was built there).

Trevalga (Cornish: Trevelgi) is a coastal civil parish and hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish is bounded on the north by the Celtic Sea, on the southeast by Forrabury and Minster parish and on the west by Tintagel parish.

Beeny is a hamlet in north Cornwall, England, UK. It is in a sheltered valley near the coast two miles (3 km) north-east of Boscastle.

Saint Nectan's Kieve (Cornish: Cuva Nathan, meaning Nathan's tub) in Saint Nectan's Glen, near Tintagel in Cornwall, Great Britain, is a plunge pool or basin fed by a 60-foot-high (18 m) waterfall on the Trevillet River.

Trethevy (Cornish: Tredhewi) is a hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is midway between the villages of Tintagel and Boscastle in the civil parish of Tintagel. Trethevy has a number of historic buildings and is an early Christian site. The hamlet is divided by the B3263 road which continues through Trevalga to Boscastle: the main settlement is south-east of the road and to the north-west is the Rocky Valley. There are two other Trethevys in Cornwall. Trethevy in the parish of St Cleer (Trethewy, 1284) and Trethevy in South Petherwin parish (Trethewy, 1332). There are a further two places spelled Trethevey: Trethevey in St Mabyn parish (Tiwardeui, 1201) and Trethevey in Luxulyan (Trethewy, 1302). Additionally there are four places spelled Trethewey: Trethewey in Germoe (Trethewy, 1327), Trethewey in St Ervan (Trethewy, 1286), Trethewey in St Levan (Trethewy, 1320) and Trethewey in St Martin (Trethewy, 1371). All of these come from the Cornish Tredhewy meaning Dewi's Farm, apart from the one in St Mabyn which comes from Ty war Duwy meaning house on the river Dewey.

Saint Piran's Chapel is a long, single storey slate construction in the hamlet of Trethevy in the parish of Tintagel, Cornwall, UK. It is a chapel-of-ease in the Anglican parish of Tintagel.