Obituary | The work of prayer

Brother Harold Palmer lived alone in the wilds by choice

The Northumbrian hermit died on October 4th, aged 93

Brother Harold Palmer
Photograph: Mark Greaves

Sometime in 1970 Brother Harold Palmer, then living in a house of the Society of St Francis, received a strange parcel in the post. He never knew who had sent it. It contained a mason’s trowel, a set square, a plumb-line and a surveyor’s measuring tape. Plainly, he had building to do.

This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Brother Harold Palmer”

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