In medieval times, anchorites would have a small cell next to a church. They would spend time in prayer and manual labor.  St. Colette of Corbie, a Poor Clare, began her religious life in an anchorhold.  Her biographer, Sister Perrine writes of this ceremony, which occurred on
September 17, 1402: 
  “In a short time, the abbot had a little anchorhold made… in which she could hear the whole Divine Office, see our Lord in Holy Mass, and receive the most precious Body of our Lord.  And when the anchorhold was completed, the good Father, Brother Jean Pinet, preached a most beautiful sermon on contempt of the world.  Then she entered the Third Order of St. Francis, vowing poverty, obedience, chastity, and perpetual enclosure.  After that the abbot and his venerable convent, the good father, and many prominent persons solemnly placed her in the anchorhold… Sister  Katherine … heard her say that she was about eighteen years old when she entered the anchorhold.”