The steep-sided valley of the river Valency forms a sheltered natural harbour at Boscastle. As well as being a fishing harbour, Boscastle was once a small port (similar to many others on the north coast of Cornwall) importing limestone and coal and exporting slate and other local produce.
The name Boscastle is derived from Bottreaux Castle, the 12th century fortress of the de Botterells, of which little now remains. If you walk up the one way street (Old Road), past the post office and follow a sign post just past this on the left you can go up a path to the old castle site which is at least a good view point over the village and harbour.
There is a large car park with toilets, some shops and several pubs and a cafe on the harbour in a former pilchard cellar. Boscastle's 50 year old Museum of Witchcraft is the largest of its kind in the world. It was badly damaged by the flood in 2004 but has been fully restored.
The Boscastle flood in 2004
The steep Valency valley acted as a funnel for the dramatic flash flood in 2004 that put Boscastle on (and nearly wiped it off) the map which is thought to have been caused by the Brown Willy effect. Around 50 cars were swept into the harbour, the bridge was washed away and roads were submerged under 9ft of water. A total of 91 people were rescued in the largest peacetime rescue operation ever launched in the UK.
Pubs in Boscastle
Boscastle has 3 pubs, each with a lot of character:
- The Cobweb Inn, opposite the car park - previously a wine cellar and flour store dating from the late 1600s, it has traditionally always had cobwebs hung from the roof beams. Apparently this was thought to keep flies off stored wines and spirits.
- The Wellington Hotel (aka "the welly") is the old village coaching inn, across the road from the Harbour. Some parts of the building are 4 centuries old, but most dates from 1853 when travellers to the area increased. It was once called the Bos Castle Hotel, but was renamed on the death of Duke Wellington in 1852. It has Folk music on wednesday nights
- The Napoleon Inn is Boscastle's oldest pub (built in the 16th Century) and is set up on the hill at the back of Boscastle. It was a recruiting office during the Napoleonic wars. The landlord joined up with Wellington to go to Waterloo and so was called 'Napoleon man' on his return - hence the name of his pub.
Boscastle walks
We've compiled some circular walks around the Boscastle area you might like to try:
Boscastle to Beeny (5.5 miles)
The walk starts in Boscastle down the harbour and climbs up on the coast path to Penally Hill. The route then follows the coast passing Little Pentargon, Pentargon Sealhole and Pentargon itself where a waterfall crashes down the cliff. The path then continues along Beeny Cliff passing Seals Hole, Fire Beacon Point and the Beeny Sisters. The final point on the coast path is overlooking the Grey Seal colony at Buckator. The walk then heads inland over the headland and down some small lanes through the valley above Pentargon and down into Peter's Wood in the Valency valley. The route then follows the river Valency down through Minster Wood to Boscastle.
Boscastle to Rocky Valley (5.5 miles)
The walk starts with a climb out from Boscastle Harbour onto Forrabury Common and joins the coast path passing the medieval field system of "stitches" and the coastguard lookout. The route follows the coast path past the seabird colonies on the rock stacks of Trevalga before descending into Rocky Valley. The walk then follows the river to the top of Rocky Valley and then climbs up to Trethevy where there is a medieval chapel and well. The route from here heads across farmland to Trevalga passing the church and ancient wayside cross before reaching Forabury where there is tea and coffee available in the church before finally descending into Boscastle close to 2 pubs and an excellent bakery.
Crackington Haven to High Cliff (4.5 miles)
The walk starts by heading out onto the coast path at Crackington Haven and follows it to the headland at Cambeak passing Bray's Point and Tremoutha Haven. From Cambeak it continues past Little Strand and The Strangles to High Cliff and Voter Run where it climbs over the hill and drops down into a wooded valley. The route follows the river along the floor of the valley through woodland back to Crackington Haven.
Crackington Haven to St Genny's Church (4.7 miles)
The walk joins the coast path at Crackington Haven which runs out to Pencannow Point with nice views over the beach. The path zig-zags behind Great Barton Strand, Little Barton Strand and Orchard Strand to Castle Point where the path swings east to run alongside the north-facing stretch of coast. As the coast bends to face west again, the route heads inland up a wooded valley to St Genny's House and on to St Genny's Church. The route then climbs back over into the valley above Crackington Haven and follows the stream down through the woods to the start of the walk.
High Cliff and The Strangles (2.8 miles)
The walks starts by heading out onto the coast path at Rusey Cliff. The route follows the coast path above Rusey Beach and along the top of High Cliff and behind the bizarre folded rock formations of Voter Run. The final stretch of coast path runs behind The Strangles where the walk turns inland to Trevigue. The route follows the lane back to the start of the walk.
Lesnewth to Tresparrett in the Valency Valley (5 miles)
The walk starts at Lesnewth and drops into the Valency Valley at Trefalgar where it crosses the Valency and climbs the opposite side of the valley and heads across to St Juliot Church which the novelist Thomas Hardy helped to rebuild. The route skirts heads up the valley passing the Iron Age settlement at Cargurra and on to Tresparrett where the Horseshoe Inn offers refreshment. The route then passes through the wooded valleys of the tributaries of the Valency before looping back to Lesnewth.
Short walks around Boscastle
- You can walk along right-hand side of the harbour past the witches museum along the path to Penally Point where there are excellent views of the harbour and back up the valley.
- You can walk up the river valency through the woods to Minster Church (about half an hour). You can walk down the back roads from Minster Church into Boscastle to create a circular walk of about an hour and a half (assuming you stop for a bit to look at Minster Church). The tourist info centre also has a leaflet (70p) describing this walk with lots of good info about the history and wildlife.
- If you walk along the left-hand side of the harbour you can walk up onto the coast path to Willapark lookout. You can create a circular walk of about an hour by going inland across Forrabury Common to Forrabury Church and back down into Boscastle (and stop for a cup of tea in Forrabury Church).
Other Boscastle walks
- The tourist info centre next to the Harbour has a leaflet (for £1) for a 3.5 mile "village trail" which has lots of information about the history of the village.
- The tourist info centre also has a couple of excellent leaflets (50 or 60p) for fairly substantial circular walks (6-8 miles) around Boscastle. As with the others, they have some interesting information about the history of places along the route.
Churches in the Boscastle parish
Boscastle has some beautiful old churches. There are seven in the parish, two of which are in Boscastle itself. The four which feature in the walks from the tourist info centre are:
- Minster (St Merthiana's) Church set in Minster Wood - an ancient woodland in the Valency valley which has had continuous woodland cover for at least 400 years. The religious site dates back 1500 years to Celtic times and parts of the church there today date back to 1150. It was originally known as 'Tolcarne', which means 'rock chapel'. The church was restored twice after falling into disrepair so there are some features that date back to the Tudor period and others to Victorian times. In early spring it is surrounded by a carpet of daffodils. Look out for the mysterious carved scissors on the tower wall. No one knows why they're there! (more info)
- Forrabury (St. Symphorian's) Church on Forrabury Common near the cliffs was originally built over 900 years ago and featured in the poetry of JS Hawker as "the silent tower of Bottreaux". It has no bells because, a story tells, the ship carrying them was hit by a freak wave and went down just off the coast with only one survivor. In Victorian times the main part of the church was rebuilt and extended significantly but the original Norman tower was left intact. There's tea and coffee and a kettle available in the church for thirsty visitors (more info). Forrabury Common is divided into 42 'stitches' - an ancient Celtic form of land tenure called 'Stitch Meal' - where long, curving plots of land with 1-2 feet of grass in between, are planted with different crops. This site has more information. The stitches are most visible between late March and late September. Over the winter, the Common is grazed. You can reach the stitches via the coast path from Boscastle, or the path from Forrabury church.
- St Juliot's Church is signposted on the right from the road from Boscastle to Crackington. It is a beautiful location with its door facing out across the valley. It was renovated by the author Thomas Hardy (whose novel "A Pair of Blue Eyes" describes the area).
- St Michael & All Angels in Lesnewth ('New Court') is a little further out from Boscastle, but is in a lovely location, just next to a deep-sided stream, marked by an ancient Celtic wayside cross. The original Saxon church was said to be built here in the dip to hide it from marauding Vikings at sea - but they found and sacked it nonetheless. Sadly little remains of the Norman church that followed; the present church is mostly Victorian, dominated by an impressively tall 15th century tower. On one of the walls inside is a nicely inscribed slate memorial, with a carved coat of arms.
More information about Boscastle
- Satellite map of Boscastle
- The Book of Boscastle - an online book about the history of Boscastle
- Wikipedia pages on Boscastle and its churches
- Boscastle village website
