The Church
The first keeills were probably stone, earth or timber-built, but the earliest surviving structures are made of stone and had thatched roofs. Furnishings were simple, the most important being the altar placed against the eastern gable. At Lag ny Keeilley and Spooyt Vane a cell for the priest to live in was built nearby, but most keeills were served by visiting priests.
We know little of Church ritual but the small size of the keeills implies that the congregation must have remained outside for most services. The great festivals of the Church and the founding saint’s day were probably celebrated as well as the weddings, christenings and funerals of the local community.
‘Rhuillick’ (Manx for burial ground) is derived from the Latin reliquae, meaning relics and is a reminder that the cult of relics was an important feature of the early Church. The remains of a keeill’s founder fathers were treated like those of Saints and became the subject of devotion. They might be enshrined in a special grave as at Ronaldsway or be moved to lie in, or beside, the keeill altar.
The usual mode of burial was extended inhumation in a stone-lined grave known as a “lintel grave”. Like the keeill it was aligned east-west with the head to the west. The position of the grave was often marked. A slab, sometimes carved with a cross, might be placed flat on top of the grave or more usually upright at one or both ends. Only stone examples survive but wooden ones were probably also used.
At The House of Manannan in Peel, visitors are able to view a reconstruction of a keeill and burial site.
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