St.Bees is a small village on the west coast of Cumbria, and lies five miles south of Whitehaven.
Tradition has it that it got its name from St.Bega, an Irish lady who fled in the 7th century from Ireland to avoid an unsuitable marriage, and landed on the beach by chance, and founded a nunnery. It is thought that the Nunnery was destroyed by Viking raiders, but in the 12th century a Norman Priory was built on the same site. The Dissolution by Henry VIII just left the church of St Mary. There are Norman details to be seen, the most striking ones being in the doorway with three orders of columns and zig zag patterned arches.Most of the chancel has been walled off and used by St Bee's School.
The most interesting possession of St Bees is an ancient relic of the nunnery itself, a remarkable stone believed to date from the 8th century. It is to be seen between the churchyard and the vicarage where it forms the lintel of an alcove. It is carved with an ugly dragon turning to snarl at a tiny armed figure attacking it from behind. One end of the stone is decorated with plaitwork, and with the knotwork at the other end is a very curious carving which looks like a boar's head. Standing in the alcove is another relic, a stout stone cross on which the bearers of a coffin would rest their load.
Among other stones here are a stoup, a piscina, and a mortar all of the 12th century. Others are probably part of still older cross shafts with primitive carving and one is the upper part of a 10th century shaft decorated on each side with chain and scroll. There are coffin stones 800 years old, carved with crosses and swords and shears.
The church has one of the most perfect old registers in the County, the entries beginning in fine writing in 1538. In company with the church is the school attractively built round three sides of a quadrangle. One wing is the original 16th century building, and over the doorway is a stone with the arms of its founder Archibishop Grindal, who gave the church one of its three Elizabethan chalices. Archibishop Grindal was born in a house on Cross Hill, just off Finkel Street.
The village main street has many ancient houses of much interest to visit and there is an extensive sandy beach. In the 1980's when excavations were taking place near to the Priory, a lead coffin was found. It contained the mummified remains of what is believed to be a knight of the 13th century. The body has since been re-interred and the shroud, which covered the body is now on display in Whitehaven Museum.
A bird sanctuary is situated at the top of St Bees, and here will be found guillemots, puffins, terns, tazorbill, kittiwake and herring gull.
A mile or two away is St Bees Head with lighhouse and field patterned crown, thrusts a blunt nose out into the Irish Sea. Its red sandstone cliffs honeycombed by weathering offer convenient nesting ledges during the summer months to noisy throngs of birds. St Bees Head is an ideal stroll, providing very fine views of coastal scenery. Beneath it incidentally there is a cove at Fleswick where interesting pebbles and crystals can be found.
The Coast to Coast walk, devised by A.W. Wainwright in 1973, starts from the Irish Sea at St Bees and stretches 190 miles across the north of England to the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay. This is an enjoyable and challenging walk with the route passing through three National Parks, the Lake District, The Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors. The walk has been divided into 14 daily stages to suit walkers of average ability.
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