History of the Harbour Light
No one really knows the exact age of the original building, although it is believed to be 16th Century. The inner breakwater in Boscastle harbour was built by Sir Richard Grenville in 1584 and it could date from then, when it was possibly used as a stable serving the working harbour.
The building was purchased in 1956 by Norman Webber (the present owner's father) for the princely sum of £75. It had previously been used to house pigs for many years.
Norman converted the building
into a gift shop using local materials, including granite lintels from Trevalga
Chapel, part of one is still just in evidence in the recent picture on the
right. The gift shop then became known as the 'Pixie Shop'. The roof was
strengthened in the late 1950's using timber which had been washed up on a local
beach.
In 1993, Norman's daughter Trixie Webster, changed the name of the shop from 'The Pixie Shop' to 'The Harbour Light', in keeping with her Christian beliefs.
Renovations were carried out in 1994 by Hedley Venning and it was then that a time capsule (a glass coffee jar!) was embedded in the wall of the shop by Norman Webber with the words "who knows when this will see the light of day again". After the flood, the time capsule was miraculously found washed up on Woolacombe beach some 60 miles from Boscastle, dry and intact.