Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Museum when it was in Bourton on the Water

The Museum received a fascinating email with attached photos from Jeremy Heath (a member of the Museum's Friends organisation.  We are so grateful to him for sharing his research with us!
 http://museumofwitchcraftfriends.blogspot.co.uk/p/joining-friends.html

Here are some extracts from the email and some of the accompanying photos:

"I read, with interest, your diary entry about the possible location of the Museum of Witchcraft in Bourton-on-the-Water. I live and work very close to Bourton... I have been a "friend" of the Museum in Boscastle for over two years, attending one of their talk days in the "Welly". I have been visiting every year since 1979, and love the collection and it's growth and change over the years. I purchased Steve Patterson's book about Cecil Williamson and found it extremely fascinating, especially the history of the different locations."

http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/shop/gb/books/183-cecil-williamson-s-book-of-witchcraft.html

S"o today I visited Bourton-on-the-Water to try and verify the location of the museum, in the 50's and 60's." 
Photo: Getty Images

"I have visited the "Toyshop" many times and had no idea it was connected to the museum in Boscastle, however I did find an old photo online of the entrance and I have tried in the past, to identify exactly where it was. But today I discovered that because of a new building being erected in the last 30 years, its location was disguised. But today I discovered it's exact location thanks to your diary entry, saying about the Toy Shop."


"I found the entry doorway almost shown on the old photograph and the window above. I found the exact same street (High Street), but where there is a gap or an alley between the museum and the next shop, a new building has been erected, a gift shop called The Cedars, which I discovered has been in business for 30 years. This has altered the view, but I took several photographs to show it IS the place. Indeed, as you can see there are large stones outside the entrance, two of which are still there, and I have compared the wall stonework and it IS the correct location. I took several other views and the buildings along the street are definately identical to those in the old photo."






Photographs courtesy of Jeremy Heath Copyright of photographs on these pages is retained by the owner where acknowledged.



3 comments:

onehundredandfiftyonereasons said...

Fantastic bit of research this! That photo of the museum at Bourton-on-the-Water is wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Hi. I used to visit the witch craft museum in the early 60s with my parents. I have to say I didn't like it much, it made me feel uncomfortable!

Anonymous said...

Yes you have the correct location for the Witchcraft Museum - I am local and remember it from my childhood.