Garden hermit

Such hermits would be encouraged to remain permanently on site, where they could be fed, cared for, and consulted for advice, or viewed for entertainment.

[1] Professor Gordon Campbell, of the University of Leicester, suggests that Francis of Paola was among the first of the trend, living as a hermit in the early 15th century in a cave on his father's estate.

Thereafter, throughout France, estates of dukes and other lords often included small chapels or other buildings where a resident hermit could remain in attendance.

Contemporary accounts suggest the Weld family kept an ornamental hermit in a purpose-built hermitage on the Lulworth Estate in Dorset.

Charles Hamilton for a seven-year term under strict conditions, lasted three weeks until he was sacked after being discovered in a local pub.