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There’s a burnt down and abandoned manor about 10 minutes walk from me, now owned by the Freemasons, has a hermitage carved into the sandstone (or limestone idk) cliff face, as well as a tunnel leading from the local castle to the manor as a means of escape (something like 1.5 miles).
The hermatige is pretty small, about 10x10 foot in the main room, with a super high 15-20ft ceiling.
There’s another mystery cave carved into the cliff, which is about 30x15 foot with pillars supporting the ceiling carved out of the rock.
The manor has been used in one form or another basically continuously since the crusades, and then intermittently before then, earliest record is a Roman reference to a spring around the location, there is also a Saxon era water mill
Wait, so, essentially an actually living, human scarecrow?
Basically a security guard that functions via playing into superstitions as opposed to openly displaying armor and weapons?
I mean, you get a home and food and basically 0 commute along with this job, that’s waaaay fucking better than 99% of jobs I’ve heard of or seen.
Like what would the rough equivalent to modern norms be… the lord doesn’t pay you enough to maintain and upkeep both a hovel and a horse, but you are required to own a horse to even apply…?
Must have been easier in those days. I’ve had my listing up for a yard druid for 6 months now and little interest. Is minimum wage and garden hose access not enough anymore? Nah people just don’t want to work 😕
I remember hearing on No Such Thing As A Fish that one hermit was fired after their patron found them down at the local pub instead of living the solitary life they were being paid for
I am now accepting offers to be some rich person’s hermit.
I offer you to become Musk’s hermit. Ask Trump for job details.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_hermit
For more info
Nice
The trend continued through the 1830s, when the idea became less popular as estate landscaping concepts evolved.
It developed into groundskeeping professions, essentially. Estates built in the 19th century commonly would have a groundskeepers house. They’ve long been demolished or since subdivided into their own properties but they exist(ed) even in west coast USA.
According to the article, they were not there as groundkeeper or landscaper or anything practical lol. Even funnier, the earlier trend seems to have been to create an impression of someone living in their garden (like a garden gnome) before they actually went on and hired a real human being as accessoire for their garden. In that way I can totally see rich people one upping each other with their new ‘toy’.
In some early instances, hermits were simply represented or hinted-at, rather than personified; outside a folly or grotto, a small table and chair, reading glasses and a classical text might be placed suggesting that it was where a hermit lived. Later, suggestions of hermits were replaced with actual hermits – men hired for the sole purpose of inhabiting a small structure and functioning as any other garden ornament. Hermits would sometimes be asked to make themselves available to guests, answering questions and providing counsel. In some cases, the hermits would not communicate with visitors, functioning instead like a perpetual stage play or live diorama
The concept remained the same for the landowner: the person on their land was a demonstration of their property.
“Although not mandatory, we encourage the participants to dress up like druids”
God I wish that was me
Would they get a bonus if they came with their own skull?
It was only after I realized this wasn’t referring to hermit crabs that this made sense.
