Boscastle (Standard Written Form: Kastel Boterel)[1] is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster (where the 2011 Census population was included) .

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.

[8] 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.

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.

Among the attractions are the Museum of Witchcraft, Uncle Paul's Emporium, the Boscastle pottery shop, and access to the South West Coast Path.

The former harbour stables (part of the National Trust estate) are now a youth hostel run by YHA, popular with walkers.

[15] The ground was already saturated due to the previous two weeks of above average rainfall; the drainage basin has many steep slopes, and has areas of impermeable slate causing rapid surface run-off.

Around 50 cars were swept into the harbour and the bridge was washed away, roads were submerged under 2.75 metres (9 ft) of water, making communication effectively impossible until flood-waters subsided.

Homes, businesses and cars belonging to more than 1,000 people were swept away; income from tourism was lost, which affected livelihoods and the local economy; there were vast numbers of subsequent insurance claims.