St Patrick's Heysham

Been on a site visit today to little known Heysham Village just down the road from Morecambe on the north Lancashire coast. Most people associate Heysham with the ferry to the Isle of Man and the nuclear power stations but tucked away is the old village with it's 17th century cottages and parish church that dates back to at least the 10th century. The church houses a very unique Viking hogsback gravestone said to be the finest example in Britain. By a strange coincidence I found out last night that my surname has Scandinavian roots from the time of the Viking settlers. Just on the headland is the old saxon church of St Patrick that dates possibly from C 8th or earlier. It has some very interesting rock cut graves that are possibly a 1000 years old.