The life of the solitary was held in high esteem. People felt wholly called to God in prayer and silence. Some mostly women, were known as Anchorites. They usually had themselves walled up in their cells 'anchored' to some religious building or shrine and relied on charitable persons to supply their needs. Recluses or hermits lived in entire seclusion from the world, far out in the wilderness of the countryside. Others did come forth among their fellow men, their hovels placed at wayside, on moors, at fords or bridges of the building. Some lived solitary, others together as at Redstone, having their own cells, but with a common oratory with altar and pulpit. Some hermits were of gentle birth, 'the gentry hermit of the vale', who had given up their wealth, others of humble birth took up the life as a living, occupying a ford. or site to get alms.
The tinkle of a hermitage bell, or the faint light from its tiny window of horn or oiled cloth would be a welcome sight to some belated and benighted wanderer who had missed his way and gladly would be given remuneration for shelter in the humble dwelling, or for guidance on his road. In medieval times, what convents and religious hospices were on a large scale, supplying the place of inns and hostelries, hermitages were on a small scale.
Redstone Hermitage