Churches of the Isle of Man Index
The first Christians on the Isle of Man were Irish
missionaries known as “Culdees” who first arrived around AD447. They
began converting the Manx population and built tiny chapels known as
Keeils. These were used to shelter the monks rather than to hold a
congregation.
With the division of the island into parishes in the C12th, some of the
keeils were rebuilt as the parish church. They can be recognised by the
Gaelic saints names. Many of these still have collections of crosses.
By the C19th, many of these churches were in poor condition. The
population was growing rapidly and many of the original parish churches
were a long walk for the congregation. New churches were built, with the
more common Roman saint names.
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