The mixed ionic-electronic conductor 6H-Ba₄Ta₂O₉ undergoes an unconventional symmetry-lowering lattice distortion when cooled below 1100 K in the presence of atmospheric water. This temperature corresponds to the onset of hydration, which reaches a maximum value for 6H-Ba₄Ta₂O₉·1/2H₂O below ∼500 K. We use a combination of diffraction, ab initio calculations, and spectroscopy to show that both processes are intimately linked. The presence of very large Ba²⁺ cations in octahedral interstitial sites (B sites of its hexagonal perovskite-type structure) forces the adjacent vacant octahedral interstitial sites also to expand, making room for them to incorporate hydration species with a total stoichiometric H₂O in constrained and highly acidic environments, where they show structural and dynamic characteristics intermediate between those of covalent water molecules and discrete protons and hydroxide ions. This in turn destabilizes the structure so that it distorts on cooling in a way that cannot be explained by conventional symmetry-lowering mechanisms. The resulting synergistic hydration-distortion mechanism is, to the best of our knowledge, unique to close-packed ionic compounds.