HERMITAGE, a village and a parish in Dorchester district, Dorset. The village stands 3½ miles NE of Evershot r. station, and 4 N by W of Cerne-Abbas; and has a fair on 26 Aug. The parish comprises 751 acres. Post town, Cerne, under Dorchester. Real property, £1, 011. Pop., 131. Houses, 31. The property is divided among a few. A pretty large spot of ground here is said to have been removed, in 1585, by the force of a subterranean wind, and carried to a considerable distance, retaining trees and hedges on it entire, and leaving a great hollow where it had been. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £64. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is good, and has a bell turret.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))