A UNIVERSITY of Winchester archaeologist has released a new book detailing the lives of hermits.

Written by Simon Roffey, reader in medieval archaeology, the book is the first comprehensive archaeological study of the UK’s hermitages, anchorite cells and eremitic communities.

While many hermits were men of faith, or mystics, seeking a life of contemplation they often had jobs as ferrymen, guides or lighthouse keepers.

Simon said: “The majority were religious, and some were made saints, like St Cuthbert. To live as a hermit was considered by many churchmen to be the religious life par excellence. And many lived a life of intense prayer and devotional practice.”

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Some hermits even became famous. St Robert of Knaresborough developed such a reputation as a wise man that King John visited him in his Yorkshire cave hoping to glean some sage advice.

Meanwhile, the occupant of Warkworth Hermitage lived in a complex cave hewn out of a cliff face which had an inner chamber, chapel and a kitchen. The hermit-in-residence was kept in relative comfort due to a stipend provided by the Duke of Northumberland.

The book also explains that, while the majority of hermits were male, most anchorites – who lived in closed-off cells attached to religious communities - were women.

Many of these cells have survived to the modern day as vestries and store houses.

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The book explains that despite their voluntary incarceration, these female mystics, many from high-born families, often had servants and pets, with there being whole eremitic communities, such as Skellig, off the coast of Ireland, where the monks lived alone together in single-person stone huts.

The reformation in the mid-16th century destroyed the eremitic way of life, but Simon says hermitages started to re-appear in the 18th century in the form of ornamental hermitages designed to give a religious aesthetic to the gardens and palaces of the aristocracy. One example being the hermitage built in the designed gardens at Stowe in Buckinghamshire.

Simon’s book, An Archeological History of Hermitages and Eremetic Communities in Medieval Britain and Beyond is being published by Routledge.