Juliot
Hannett near Boscastle, St. Juliot Church
I had been to St. Juliot church several years ago but only briefly. Wanting to report on its Thomas Hardy connection, I included it in a Valency Valley round walk from Boscastle in June 2008. In 1870, the year Hardy came to St. Juliot, he was not yet a published writer but was practising as an architect. The church was in disrepair and he was to make preparations for its restoration. At the Rectory he met Emma Gifford, the rector's sister-in-law and fell in love with her. They married in 1874. Hardy's sojourn at St. Juliot was the inspiration for A Pair of Blue Eyes and Poems of 1912-13. St. Juliot church is attractive enough from the outside but, despite retention of the south porch and the south aisle (now the nave), despite re-use of original material and despite careful selection of new materials, the inside disappoints, just another Victorian over-restoration. All that interests inside is the Hardy connection: a memorial tablet to him and another, which he himself designed, to Emma; two of his drawings, one of her watercolours; and a superb engraved glass window by Simon Whistler. The window depicts Hardy's journey to Cornwall, the church, Beeny Cliff and waterfalls in the Valency Valley. There are four Cornish crosses in the churchyard and coffin rests on the stile up from the field.
Whistler Window
St. Juliot Church
Cornish Cross by Gate
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More in Churches & Holy Sites
Julitta
Lanteglos-by-Camelford. St. Julitta,
Kea, All Hallows Church
All Hallows Kea stands in a wooded part of the Killiow estate, like Old Kea not far from Playing Place but on the other side of the A39 Truro to Falmouth Road and signed from it, as is Old Kea. This is a very un-Cornish looking church, completed in 1897 by architect G H Fellowes Prynne. The impression is very much of an Arts and Crafts church, albeit in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Stone used is a creamy Killas with block size varying. Unexpectedly the porch is timber framed on a stone plinth. The equally unexpected hexagonal spire is particularly striking. When I was at All Hallows, on the last Saturday of July 2018, the church was being prepared for a wedding but I was in time for a good look round and, as always, many photographs. I was pleased that the sun was shining so I was able to get some worthwhile exterior photos. The interior (I quote Pevsner) "is especially handsome, of generous and spacious proportions with a wide nave, narrow north and south aisles with lean-to roofs and walls .... of dressed killas stone, red Paignton sandstone and yellow Ham Hill stone." The Norman font is notable, the four shafts topped by heads and the sides decorated with the tree of life, a cross and a heraldic lion passant. The altar has paintings by Prynne of angels, seraphim and the Lamb of God. Fine stained glass in the Chancel window is to a Prynne design. A Poor Box dates from 1739.
Kenwyn, St. Keyne's Church
Kenwyn is on the northern outskirts of Truro and its church of St. Keyne is the mother church of the city. High above Truro, from the south side of the church there are views of the city, including viaduct, cathedral and river. I visited primarily to see St. Keyne's Holy Well, something of a disappointment since Elfin Safety has provided a metal cover through which you cannot see the water below. Originally consecrated in 1259, the church has undergone numerous extensions and alterations, most particularly in the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries. The church is approached by a lych gate under Church House which may date from the 14th century and may once have been a schoolroom. The church consists of Nave, South Aisle and Chapel. Chancel and aisle roofs are of the Cornish wagon variety. There is some good 19th century stained glass, some by Alexander Gibbs. As you approach the church you pass first, on a bank above you, a four sided tomb stone, then a war memorial and, next to that the Holy Well. Outside the south-east corner of the church a 1769 chest tomb is that of Agnes Jenney. To the NE of the church is the 1869 headstone of Joseph Emidy, a freed slave who became the first black African composer in England. Also to the NE is a pinnacle which was the top of the spire of St. Mary's church, now part of Truro Cathedral.