Real Gnomes in History
A far less romantic aspect of the garden gnome was that during the rule of Hadrian of Rome in the second century as he would have hermits residing in his gardens to protects them. In later years in England around the 18th century, this practice would resume and rich property owners had positions available for a person to live onsite to protect the garden and were called ornamental hermits. The job had very stern criteria that needed to be followed and it involved being silent, adorn old clothing, and adopting hermit aspects living in an old shack on the grounds.Two trends in Georgian England created a moment in history ripe for the phenomenon of ornamental hermitage: solitude and overt displays of material wealth.
Wealthy landowners desired expansive and often ornate gardens on their property, and would use these expanses to reflect not just financial riches, but existing social mores such as melancholy. Garden hermits or ornamental hermits were people encouraged to live alone in purpose-built hermitages, follies, grottoes, or rockeries on the estates of wealthy landowners, primarily during the 18th century. 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. 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 Honorable Charles Hamilton, an 18th-century British aristocrat and member of Parliament, was explicit in his advertisement. The ornamental hermit he was recruiting to live in the sprawling gardens at his Painshill estate in Cobham, England, must be silent, never speaking to the servants who brought him his daily meals. He must wear a goat’s hair robe and never cut his hair, nails or beard. Shoes were out of the question. If and only if the hermit fulfilled the terms of his contract, living in solitary contemplation without stepping foot outside of the estate for seven years, he would be rewarded with £500 to £700 (around $95,000 to $130,000 today).
While silence was treasured on some estates, not every ornamental hermit was expected to live in total seclusion. One of the most famous English garden hermits, Father Francis, lived at Hawkstone, diplomat Richard Hill’s Shropshire estate, in the 1780s. He was something of a tourist attraction. Visitors delighted in seeing the wise old hermit seated in front of a table topped with the tools of his trade, including spectacles, a book, an hourglass and a skull. When Francis was asleep or otherwise indisposed (the man, his acolytes believed, was pushing 90 years old), he was replaced by a stuffed automaton dressed like a druid.
