Enda's monks imitated the asceticism and simplicity of the earliest Egyptian desert hermits. He established the monastery of Enda, which is regarded as the first Irish monastery, at Killeany on Inismór. He also established a monastery in the Boyne valley, and several others across the island, and along with Finnian of Clonard is known as the father of Irish monasticism. At Killeaney the monks lived a hard life of manual labour, prayer, fasting, and study of the Scriptures. The monks of Aran lived alone in their stone cells, slept on the ground, ate together in silence, and survived by farming and fishing.