Around the year 800, the Irish church seems to have encouraged its flock to go on pilgrimage to remote places in the country, and the Aran Islands in County Galway would appear to have been one of the chosen destinations.
Na Seacht Tempaill, or the Seven Churches, may have been home to seven houses of worship, but today only Teampall Brecan and Teampall an Phoill survive. Temple Brecan was built around 1200 and is flanked by a number of rectangular houses, which are believed to be the only pilgrim hostels to survive from late-Medieval Ireland.