A fine doorway . . .

. . . and a well.

It promised to be a lovely day and we decided, after the Bank Holiday, it might be safe to venture west on the A66, so we headed for St Bees.

We have been going to St Bees for many years, but always to walk by the sea or along the cliff tops to St Bees Head. Today we did something a bit different. We walked away from the sea, up the road and along an old path that led to St Bees Priory Church. I find it hard to believe that there is so much of historical interest at this church and yet I have never been. Sadly of course the church itself was closed to visitors, but that wasn’t a problem as the building itself is impressive from outside (see extra 1) and the 12th century Norman Arch, which forms the west doorway, is magnificent. The church was the Priory Church when there were Benedictine Monks here and fragments of the monastic splendour can be seen in the surrounding buildings. 

The church is dedicated to St Bega, who legend says was an Irish princess who came to Britain as a missionary in the 8th or 9th century, perhaps also escaping an arranged marriage, and she set up a religious foundation here. There is very little known about St Bega, but she left her name in the dedication of the Abbey and in the name of St Bees itself - the Norse name which was translated as ‘Church town of Bega’. Although much of her story is legend, there is evidence that there was early religious activity in the area - there are two 10th century stone cross shafts, one in the church and one in the graveyard (see extra 2).

As we followed the path to the church we walked through a little wildflower garden in the centre of which is a well. There is no evidence that this was venerated as a holy well, it probably simply served the monks’ physical needs and the rather nice stone structure which surrounds it is likely to be Victorian. It does make for a rather pretty setting though (see extra 3). 

We also walked past the grand St Bees School and Gordon remembers playing cricket and rugby against their teams . . . and beating them every time! 

When we arrived back at the sea, Gordon went walking on the cliff tops and I sat in the sunshine, watching the great waves and reading my book - perfect.