Boscastle

Boscastle
Cornish: Kastel Boterel

Boscastle harbour and landscape
Boscastle
 Boscastle shown within Cornwall
Population 888 (Parish, 2001)
OS grid referenceSX098906
Civil parishForrabury and Minster
Shire countyCornwall
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town BOSCASTLE
Postcode district PL35
Dialling code 01840
Police Devon and Cornwall
Fire Cornwall
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK ParliamentNorth Cornwall
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall

Coordinates: 50°41′02″N 4°41′34″W / 50.6840°N 4.6929°W

View from Boscastle harbour path leading to headland
Boscastle Harbour
View from the path leading to the harbour

Boscastle (Cornish: Kastel Boterel)[1] is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, UK, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster. It is 14 miles (23 km) south of Bude and 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Tintagel.[2]

The name of the village comes from Botreaux Castle (pronounced "But'ry"),[3] a 12th-century motte-and-bailey fortress, of which few remains survive. The castle was anciently in the possession of the de Botreaux family, which became under William de Botereaux (1337–91) the Barons Botreaux.

Boscastle harbour is a natural inlet protected by two stone harbour walls built in 1584 by Sir Richard Grenville (of HMS Revenge). It is the only significant harbour for 20 miles (32 km) along the coast. As well as being a fishing harbour. importing limestone and coal and exporting slate and other local produce. Boscastle was once a small port (similar to many others on the north coast of Cornwall)

The oldest part of Boscastle surrounds the harbour; more modern residential building extends up the valleys of the River Valency and River Jordan.

Boscastle lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a National Park.

Boscastle Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1907. The club continued until the mid 1920s.[4]

Tourism

The village, with its picturesque harbour, is a popular tourist destination. Among the attractions are the Museum of Witchcraft, the Boscastle pottery shop, and access to the South West Coast Path.

Much of the land in and around Boscastle is owned by the National Trust, including both sides of the harbour, Forrabury Stitches, high above the Boscastle and divided into ancient "stitchmeal" cultivation plots, and large areas of the Valency Valley, known for its connections to Thomas Hardy.

The former harbour stables (part of the National Trust estate) are now a youth hostel run by YHA, popular with walkers. The National Trust runs a shop at the harbour,[5] and a visitor centre in the Old Smithy.

A Seaside Parish

In 2004 British television channel BBC 2 began broadcasting A Seaside Parish, a weekly series focusing on the life of the newly appointed Rector of Boscastle, Christine Musser.[6]

The Rector of Boscastle is responsible for seven churches in the district: Forrabury (St Symphorian), Minster (St Merthiana), St Juliot, Lesnewth (St Michael and All Angels), Trevalga (St Petroc), Otterham (St Denis) and Davidstow (St David).[7]

St Juliot is of particular interest to devotees of the works of Thomas Hardy since he acted as the architect for the church's restoration in March 1870 and this is where he met his first wife, Emma Gifford, who was the Rector's sister-in-law. Their love affair was the inspiration for his novel A Pair of Blue Eyes and later in life, some of his poetry.

Boscastle floods

A flash flood on 16 August 2004 caused extensive damage to the village. Residents were trapped in houses as the roads turned into rivers: people were trapped on roofs, in cars, in buildings and on the river's banks. and the village's visitor centre was washed away.[8][9] Two Royal Air Force Westland Sea King rescue helicopters from Chivenor, three Royal Navy Sea Kings from Culdrose, one RAF Sea King from St Mawgan and one Coastguard S61 helicopter from Portland searched for and assisted casualties in and around the village.

The operation was coordinated by the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) based at RAF Kinloss in Scotland in the largest peacetime rescue operation ever launched in the UK. A total of 91 people were rescued and there were no fatalities, only one broken thumb. Around 50 cars were swept into the harbour and the bridge was washed away, roads were submerged under 2.75 m of water, making communication effectively impossible until flood-waters subsided. The sewerage system burst, and for this range of health and safety reasons Boscastle was declared temporarily inaccessible.

Boscastle was flooded again on 21 June 2007 although the scale of destruction was not nearly as serious as in 2004.

References

  1. ↑ Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel. Cornish Language Partnership.
  2. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 190 Bude & Clovelly ISBN 978-0-319-23145-6
  3. ↑ As is pronounced the name of the former Devon manor of Molland-Bottreaux, a remnant of which name survives as the hamlet of Bottreaux Mill, Molland.
  4. ↑ “Boscastle Golf Club”, “Golf’s Missing Links”.
  5. ↑ http://www.visitboscastleandtintagel.com/boscastle-and-tintagel/thedms.asp?dms=13&venue=4520516
  6. ↑ "Seaside priest is TV star". BBC News. 1 February 2004. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  7. ↑ "Boscastle group of 7 Churches". Village website. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  8. ↑ BBC news:Dozens rescued from flash floods Retrieved on 25 August 2008
  9. ↑ Met office

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boscastle.