The Monastery of the Ecclesium
Almost completely isolated from the world, save a few acolytes who run errands, the Monastery of the Ecclesium is home to the majority of the brothers of The Archdiocese of The Most Eminent Holy Ecclesium of the Apostolic Martyr, where they reside in peaceful, quiet solitude and reflection, working the gardens adjacent to the monastery and the lands beyond to provide everything they need for the simplistic lifestyle, from clothing to food.
Nestled in a unremarkable valley to the east of the Du Kerreswik Hills, where a stream gently gurgles along the side of the building driving a water wheel, the monastery was constructed by the brotherhood as early as 400 years ago, using granite quarried from the very vale in which the monastery now sits. It is said that the exact spot upon which the altar now stands, is where a priest of the brotherhood is said to have experienced an epiphany during an apparition of the Apostolic Martyr, compelling him to build a chapel at the site for it "shall stand for all time, and grow to forever meet the needs of thy work". Indeed, 400 years on, and the rudimentary chapel is now a burgeoning monastery incorporating a much larger church where the chapel once stood, a cloister nestled between the southern wall of the nave and the refectory, a chapterhouse to the north of the cloister for when senior clergy visit and behind this sits the Abbots Lodge, a private residence for the head of the monastery.
Behind the refectory runs the stream that power the waterwheel, driving the machinery necessary for the monks to mill flour for their daily bread, grind pulp for paper to make their ornate bibles, run their clothing mills, and divert water into other parts of the monastery and the gardens. A bridge leads from the refectory to the kitchen garden arranged into two areas: herbs, and vegetables. The herb garden is further subdivided into culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, fragrant herbs, and poisons, while the vegetable garden is an array of root vegetables, legumes, salads and fruits.
Nestled in a unremarkable valley to the east of the Du Kerreswik Hills, where a stream gently gurgles along the side of the building driving a water wheel, the monastery was constructed by the brotherhood as early as 400 years ago, using granite quarried from the very vale in which the monastery now sits. It is said that the exact spot upon which the altar now stands, is where a priest of the brotherhood is said to have experienced an epiphany during an apparition of the Apostolic Martyr, compelling him to build a chapel at the site for it "shall stand for all time, and grow to forever meet the needs of thy work". Indeed, 400 years on, and the rudimentary chapel is now a burgeoning monastery incorporating a much larger church where the chapel once stood, a cloister nestled between the southern wall of the nave and the refectory, a chapterhouse to the north of the cloister for when senior clergy visit and behind this sits the Abbots Lodge, a private residence for the head of the monastery.
Behind the refectory runs the stream that power the waterwheel, driving the machinery necessary for the monks to mill flour for their daily bread, grind pulp for paper to make their ornate bibles, run their clothing mills, and divert water into other parts of the monastery and the gardens. A bridge leads from the refectory to the kitchen garden arranged into two areas: herbs, and vegetables. The herb garden is further subdivided into culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, fragrant herbs, and poisons, while the vegetable garden is an array of root vegetables, legumes, salads and fruits.
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