In his anticlerical work The Devil a Monk Would Be: A Survey of Sex & Celibacy in Religion (1942, re-issued 2003), T Clifton Longworth included a chapter entitled ‘Some English Hermitages and their Story’. Drawing attention to the many legends of walled-up monks and nuns, he observed: “Very little research has so far been devoted to this fascinating topic” and expressed hopes that a detailed study would one day be undertaken of those he considered hapless victims of religious oppression.

Hermits & Recluses in English Society 950–1200, by Dr Tom Licence, more than fulfils this hope, but in the process expunges the woeful misconceptions and popular myths Longworth perpetuated.