Christian missionaries began to arrive in Ireland to convert pagan Celts to Christianity between 400 and 500 AD.
The first to arrive was Paladius but he died soon after his arrival.
Patrick came next; first as a slave and later, he returned as a bishop.
Soon, some devout Christians decided to live away from the other people and they built monasteries where they could pray.
The first monastery was built by St. Enda on the Aran Islands in 490 BC.
Monasteries resembled forts in many ways and they had a sacred and a non-sacred section.
The sacred section housed the main church, graveyard, round tower, stone cross and Abbot’s cell.
The abbot was the head of the monastery.
The non-sacred section was where animals were kept, where farming was done and where the other monks slept.
Every monk lived in his own special room called a beehive hut. Beehive huts were built using the corbel method – a method of building without the use of supports. It involved layering stone slabs on top of each other with the top one always jutting out slightly from the one beneath it.
Monks’ clothes were made from coarse, un-dyed wool. Most of them wore a simple white tunic and over it a cape and a hood.
On their feet, they wore leather sandals.
