Left - the opening to the anchorite cell from inside the chancel. Right - The anchorite cell in the north wall with a view of the altar. Anchorites were religious recluses, often women, who would be sealed in a tiny cell at the side of the church sanctuary with the permission of the Bishop. The practice was common between 1225 and 1400. Last rites were administered because once she took up residence, no priest could reach the hermit: the bricking up of the door was a sign that this was a choice for life. The cell had a small window to receive the sacrament and view the altar, and a small opening though which food and water could be passed. Living solitary lives of silence, prayer and mortification, they would live by means of endowment, and could provide counsel or prayer for visitors.