Museum of Witchcraft
Encyclopedia
Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle
, Cornwall
, England
is a museum dedicated to witchcraft
and has the largest collection of witchcraft and Wicca
n related artifacts in the world. It is one of Cornwall's most popular museums, though it had opened initially not in Cornwall but on the Isle of Man
in 1951, moving to its current location in 1960.
The museum holds a large number of artifacts, much of which once belonged to the museum's founder Cecil Williamson
, including human remains, and currently also holds the Richell collection of witchcraft regalia that was loaned to the museum in 2000 from The Netherlands.
tried to open a museum to hold his collection of witchcraft and occult artifacts in Stratford-upon-Avon
in 1947, but faced local opposition and had to abandon his plans.
. He had it set up in a dilapidated old mill known locally as the Witches' Mill which he had purchased in 1948, and, at the advice of his wife, opened an adjacent restaurant, known as the Witches' Kitchen.
Williamson employed his friend, Gerald Gardner
, to work at the museum as the director and 'resident witch'. However, Gardner fell out with Williamson over what he saw as sensationalist displays. Williamson, in retaliation, removed a photograph of Gardner from the display.
Williamson decided to return to England, and took his collection of witchcraft artefacts with him. In 1954 Gardner bought the Witches' Mill from him, and renamed it The Museum of Magic and Witchcraft, filling it with his own collection of artefacts. During the 1950s, Gardner discussed moving his museum to London
with his then friend, Charles Cardell
, but decided not to. Gardner continued to run the museum till his death in 1964, when it was briefly run by his High Priestess Monique Wilson before it was shut down and the collection sold off.
. Here it stayed open for the tourist season, and was quite successful, but local opinion was still against it, and so Williamson decided to move it again.
in Gloucestershire
. The museum suffered various persecutions, including signs being painted on walls and dead cats hung from trees, and eventually it was largely damaged in an arson attack.
in Cornwall
. Williamson sold it at midnight on Samhain
1996, and died in 1999. The new owner, Graham King has since appeared on BBC
TV series such as A Seaside Parish
and Antiques Roadshow
. He organised the burial of Joan Wytte, a woman who died in Bodmin Jail
under accusations of witchcraft in 1813, and whose corpse had been at the museum for many years. She was buried in a local area of woodland in 1998. The museum was damaged during heavy floods
in 2004.
, Horned God
, Mother Goddess
, divination
, stone circles, village white witch
and cunning folk
, protective charms, and mandrake
s. There is also a small section on Satanism
that explains that it is different from Wicca, and it contains a medallion given to the museum by the Church of Satan
.
The Museum also has a large library of books, including a scrapbook belonging to Doreen Valiente
.
Boscastle
Boscastle is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster. It is situated 14 miles south of Bude and 5 miles north-east of Tintagel....
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
is a museum dedicated to witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
and has the largest collection of witchcraft and Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
n related artifacts in the world. It is one of Cornwall's most popular museums, though it had opened initially not in Cornwall but on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
in 1951, moving to its current location in 1960.
The museum holds a large number of artifacts, much of which once belonged to the museum's founder Cecil Williamson
Cecil Williamson
Cecil Williamson was an influential English Neopagan Witch. He was the founder of both the Witchcraft Research Center which was a part of MI6's war against Nazi Germany, and the Museum of Witchcraft...
, including human remains, and currently also holds the Richell collection of witchcraft regalia that was loaned to the museum in 2000 from The Netherlands.
History
Stratford-upon-Avon, England, 1947
Neopagan Witch Cecil WilliamsonCecil Williamson
Cecil Williamson was an influential English Neopagan Witch. He was the founder of both the Witchcraft Research Center which was a part of MI6's war against Nazi Germany, and the Museum of Witchcraft...
tried to open a museum to hold his collection of witchcraft and occult artifacts in Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
in 1947, but faced local opposition and had to abandon his plans.
Castletown, Isle of Man, 1951-1963
In 1951, Williamson opened the museum, under the name of the Folklore Center of Superstition and Witchcraft at Castletown on the Isle of ManIsle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. He had it set up in a dilapidated old mill known locally as the Witches' Mill which he had purchased in 1948, and, at the advice of his wife, opened an adjacent restaurant, known as the Witches' Kitchen.
Williamson employed his friend, Gerald Gardner
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
, to work at the museum as the director and 'resident witch'. However, Gardner fell out with Williamson over what he saw as sensationalist displays. Williamson, in retaliation, removed a photograph of Gardner from the display.
Williamson decided to return to England, and took his collection of witchcraft artefacts with him. In 1954 Gardner bought the Witches' Mill from him, and renamed it The Museum of Magic and Witchcraft, filling it with his own collection of artefacts. During the 1950s, Gardner discussed moving his museum to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with his then friend, Charles Cardell
Charles Cardell
Charles Cardell was an English Wiccan who propagated his own tradition of the Craft, which was distinct from that of Gerald Gardner. Cardell's tradition of Wicca was based around a form of the Horned God known as Atho, and worked with a coven that met in the grounds of his estate in Surrey. His...
, but decided not to. Gardner continued to run the museum till his death in 1964, when it was briefly run by his High Priestess Monique Wilson before it was shut down and the collection sold off.
Windsor, England, 1954
On his return to England in 1954, Williamson opened the museum, now known as the Museum of Witchcraft, to WindsorWindsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
. Here it stayed open for the tourist season, and was quite successful, but local opinion was still against it, and so Williamson decided to move it again.
Bourton-on-the-Water, England, 1954
In 1954 Williamson moved the museum to Bourton-on-the-WaterBourton-on-the-Water
Bourton-on-the-Water is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England that lies on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. The museum suffered various persecutions, including signs being painted on walls and dead cats hung from trees, and eventually it was largely damaged in an arson attack.
Boscastle, England, 1960-present
In 1960 Williamson moved the museum to BoscastleBoscastle
Boscastle is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster. It is situated 14 miles south of Bude and 5 miles north-east of Tintagel....
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. Williamson sold it at midnight on Samhain
Samhain
Samhain is a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised as the "Celtic New Year" from the late 19th century, following Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer...
1996, and died in 1999. The new owner, Graham King has since appeared on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV series such as A Seaside Parish
A Seaside Parish
A Seaside Parish is a British television documentary made by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC2 which was first broadcast in 2003. Following the success of A Country Parish, the programme concerns the life of a new incumbent and general parish life in the village of Boscastle and the adjoining...
and Antiques Roadshow
Antiques Roadshow
Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979...
. He organised the burial of Joan Wytte, a woman who died in Bodmin Jail
Bodmin Jail
Bodmin Jail is a historic former prison situated in Bodmin, on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Built in 1779 and closed in 1927, the large range of buildings is now largely in ruins, although parts of the prison have been turned into a tourist attraction.- History :Bodmin Gaol was designed by...
under accusations of witchcraft in 1813, and whose corpse had been at the museum for many years. She was buried in a local area of woodland in 1998. The museum was damaged during heavy floods
Boscastle flood of 2004
The Boscastle flood of 2004 occurred on Monday, 16 August 2004 in the two villages of Boscastle and Crackington Haven in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The villages suffered extensive damage after flash floods caused by an exceptional amount of rain that fell over eight hours that afternoon...
in 2004.
Exhibits
There are various rooms displaying different exhibits. There are sections devoted to the Wiccan wheel of the yearWheel of the Year
The Wheel of the Year is a Neopagan term for the annual cycle of the Earth's seasons. It consists of eight festivals, spaced at approximately even intervals throughout the year. These festivals are referred to as Sabbats...
, Horned God
Horned God
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in some European pagan religions. He is often given various names and epithets, and represents the male part of the religion's duotheistic theological system, the other part being the female Triple Goddess. In common Wiccan belief, he is...
, Mother Goddess
Mother goddess
Mother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...
, divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
, stone circles, village white witch
White witch
White witch and good witch are qualifying terms in English used to distinguish practitioners of folk magic for benevolent purposes from practitioners of malevolent witchcraft...
and cunning folk
Cunning folk
The cunning folk in Britain were professional or semi-professional practitioners of magic active from the Medieval period through to the early twentieth century. As cunning folk, they practised folk magic – also known as "low magic" – although often combined with elements of "high" or ceremonial...
, protective charms, and mandrake
Mandrake
Mandrake may refer to:* Mandrake , a plant of the genus Mandragora* Mandragora , in occultism* Mandrake Linux, former name of Mandriva Linux, a computer operating system...
s. There is also a small section on Satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
that explains that it is different from Wicca, and it contains a medallion given to the museum by the Church of Satan
Church of Satan
The Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.- History :...
.
The Museum also has a large library of books, including a scrapbook belonging to Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente , who also went under the craft name Ameth, was an influential English Wiccan who was involved in a number of different early traditions, including Gardnerianism, Cochrane's Craft and the Coven of Atho...
.