Who really was the Dinton Hermit?

Probably, most of us have at least some understanding of who John Biggs was. Perhaps we've seen the pub sign with the image of the Dinton Hermit swinging above our heads as we headed off down Water Lane in Ford, or we've taken the trouble to look up the entry, 'Dinton Hermit' in some online encyclopedia, or maybe like me, you simply asked a villager about the curiously named house called Biggs Cave? Whatever we know of John Biggs, he is a man of fascinating character, and even today, he is still able to capture enough interest, to easily qualify for inclusion in a book such as, "Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness," which was published just a few years ago.

So where do we start? Well, in most encyclopedia's you'll get some variation on the following information: The Dinton Hermit's real name was John Biggs, and he was a clerk to Simon Mayne, who was the Lord of the Manor in Dinton at the time. Biggs was baptised on the 22nd of April, 1629 and he died in 1696. It's believed by some that Biggs was the mysterious hooded executioner of Charles 1st, and as a consequence of being so prominently involved in such regicide, he thereafter lived the rest of his life as a hermit, full of remorse and dependant entirely on the charity of villagers.

While that is interesting, and it is captivating,...certainly if accompanied by the intriguing picture of him wearing his patchwork quilt clothes, along with the unforgettable and brave fashion coupling of a twin pointed hat and a set of huge clown-like shoes, (which probably enabled him to do his party piece of leaning over at a ridiculous angle, without falling over), there is actually as you would probably expect, considerably more information available.

One source adds, "He lived in a cave, [and] had been a man of tolerable wealth, looked upon as a pretty good scholar, and of no contemptible parts." The text also includes the fact that he, "never asked for any thing but leather, which he would immediately nail to his clothes. He kept 3 bottles that hung to his girdle, viz. for strong and small beer, and milk."

The Handbook for travellers in Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire, published in 1860 confirms that he not only lived in a cave, but it was underground.

In Chambers Book of Days, a reference is made concerning a letter of Hearne the Oxford historian, dated February 12th, 1713, which describes the Dinton Hermit's shoes in detail. "Each of these shoes is not merely composed of patches, like a beggar's cloak, but it presents a load of such patches, layer above layer, to the amount, it is believed, of many hundreds of individual pieces." (One of the shoes is in the Ashmolean museum and the other apparently, was kept at Dinton Hall.)

The account goes on to reveal that every summer John Biggs would adjourn to the woods near Kimble. It says that he, "was little over thirty at the time of his retirement, and he lived to 1696, when he must have been sixty-seven...The man was perfectly inoffensive, and conduct so extraordinary is only to be accounted for in his case by supposing a slight aberration of the intellect, the consequence perhaps of disappointed hopes."

Other accounts reveal that Biggs however, was also, 'by relation, very lewd if he could entice women into his cave, and the people of Dinton were many times frightened by him."

But, the question is, did John Biggs actually execute Charles the 1st? You'd think so given how often it's mentioned. However, the argument that the executioner would have been given sanctuary and anonymity on one of the regicide's estates, is compelling, but not exactly convincing. In all probability the King was executed not by John Biggs, but by Richard Brandon, who was the usual executioner at the time. The Chambers Book of Days, states that when Brandon was questioned by Lord Capell about the death, Brandon confirmed that he was the real executioner. Further to that he even showed the axe that he'd used, and when questioned whether he was even afraid, he answered with the following, "They made me cut it off, and I had thirty pounds for my pains..."