Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

The world's largest collection of its kind

Tucked into a row of cottages beside Boscastle's picturesque harbour, the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic holds the largest collection of witchcraft and magic-related objects anywhere in the world. Its cases bring together folk magic, cunning-folk traditions, ritual and protective objects, and material relating to the emergence of modern Wicca - a subject matter that makes this one of Cornwall's most distinctive and talked-about museums.

The museum was founded in 1951 by Cecil Williamson, a researcher and collector with a lifelong interest in folk magic and the occult, who opened it first on the Isle of Man before eventually settling the collection in Boscastle. Williamson sold the museum in 1996 to Graham King, who expanded the collection significantly over the following years. Since 2013 the museum has been owned and run by Simon Costin, a designer and folklorist who continues to develop the collection and its programme of exhibitions and events.

Exhibits range from ritual tools and protective charms to material on cunning-folk (practitioners of traditional folk magic and healing), historical accounts of the witch trials, and objects connected to the development of Wicca as a modern religious movement - making the museum as much a serious resource on folklore and social history as a visitor attraction.