The Codford Hermit

The only evidence for Henry the hermit is found in a Patent Roll, one of a series of official documents recording government business. But when Sir Richard Colt Hoare was investigating the history and archaeology of the Codford area in the early 19th century he noticed a group of eight ancient yew trees standing alone on Malmpit Hill above St Mary’s, and discovered from old maps that this area had been called Hermitage Hill.     

 The historian then brings together evidence from the document, a folk memory (the name ‘Hermitage Hill’, which was then included on a printed map of Wiltshire), the old map itself and archaeological fieldwork, to tell us the who, where and when of the story.