CHURCH WHICH INSPIRED A NOVELIST
Inland from Boscastle, 2½ miles to the east, is the venerable church of St Juliot; a site of worship for 1,200 years. Isolated and remote, the granite and slate rubble building appears to grow out of a churchyard that is managed as a wildlife sanctuary. Today, the church has a congregation of just four, but its more recent history has a link with novelist Thomas Hardy. An architect before he became known as a writer, Hardy came to this church in 1870 to inspect it prior to restoration. While here, he met his future wife, Emma Gifford, the sister-in-law of the rector. An elegantly etched Thomas Hardy memorial window was installed in the church in 2003. It includes inscriptions that are copies of Hardy’s handwriting. Opposite the window is a memorial to Emma, who died in 1912, and a memorial commemorating Hardy’s work at the church.