St Bees Priory
Coordinates: 54°29′38″N 3°35′36″W / 54.493777°N 3.593461°W / 54.493777; -3.593461
St Bees Priory is the parish church of St Bees, Cumbria. There is evidence for a pre-Norman religious site, and on this a Benedictine priory was founded by the first Norman Lord of Egremont William Meschin, and was dedicated by Archbishop Thurstan of York, sometime between 1120 and 1135.
From sculptural and charter evidence the site was a principal centre of religious influence in the west of the county, and an extensive parish grew up with detached portions covering much of the Western Lakes.
The Priory was dissolved in 1539, and since then the buildings have been the Anglican church of St Bees parish, and is now a grade I listed building.
The Pre-Norman Church
There is sculptural and place-name evidence for the existence of a pre-Norman religious site; though no existing buildings from that time. The St Bees place-name is derived from "Kirkeby Becok" - the "Church town of Bega", which was used in the 12th Century. St Bega is a mysterious figure from pre-Norman Britain, and is said to have been an Irish princess who fled across the sea to St Bees to avoid an enforced marriage. Legend has it that she then lived a life of piety at St Bees. The most likely period for her journey would have been sometime in the thirty years after 850, when the Vikings were settling Ireland.
