Vicar's hermit role to celebrate Yorkshire church's 800th anniversary
With his simple robes and hood, vicar Philip Ball looks the part for his role in an East Yorkshire church’s 800th anniversary celebrations.
Mr Ball will live as a hermit during a medieval re-enactment weekend marking the milestone in the long and eventful history of St Mary’s Church in Hook, a village in the bend of the river Ouse near Goole.
A highlight will be a display of jousting along with archery and living history displays from May 16 to 18.
The first resident of the village – which is centuries older than Goole – is thought to have been a hermit, with records showing land was granted for a hermitage “with land to make a road to the river” in 1190.
St Mary’s began life in 1225 as a chantry chapel, where a priest would have been employed to chant masses for the dead. It became the parish church after the Reformation.
Although some hermits were motivated by religious or spiritual reasons to live a solitary life, often in isolated or secluded locations, others chose to live in small cells attached to churches. Some took on roles like guides or ferrymen.
Mr Ball said, depending on the weather, he'd be sleeping in a rough shelter outside during the festivities, guarding the gate to where the re-enactors will be camping – and has offered to go into the stocks to be pelted with wet sponges.
Re-enactment groups Destrier, The Beaufort Companye and Sir John Savile’s Houshold will camp over the weekend and put on battle, archery and living history displays. There will also be bird of prey flying displays and a medieval costume competition.
On the Friday an early music concert will take place in the church, which has a stained glass window showing Queen Victoria in a wheelchair handing flowers to a wounded soldier from the First Boer War. On the Sunday the Bishop of Sheffield Dr Pete Wilcox will lead a celebratory church service.
Other events planned for the year include a homecoming concert by composer Gavin Bryars, a military history weekend, crosspatch exhibition, band night and Christmas Tree Festival.
In recent years St Mary's, which is listed on the “Heritage at Risk” register, has had nearly £200,000 spent bringing it up to modern standards, including putting in a kitchenette and disabled toilet. But more work needs to be done installing a new boiler and repairing the roof and stonework, which could cost another £300,000.
Mr Ball said he was grateful for the efforts of residents who had raised £35,000 so far. He said: "What we want is a building that serves people's needs, that's the essence of the project, which is why we have done it the way we have, to make it serve people's needs first. We had hoped to get it all done by now but the funding landscape is very difficult at the moment.
‘It is not often you get to have an 800th birthday party and try to reflect on, capture and celebrate how over 800 years a place has contributed to so many lives, but it is the privilege of the people of the village of Hook and particularly those with close involvement to the church to be doing this.”