Distance from FME |
9.5miles |
Quick Description |
| St Bees is situated on the West coast of Cumbria, It is a small, community with a population of about 1,800. It is best known for being the start (or end) of the Wainwright Coast to Coast Walk, the Priory of St Mary and St Bega which dates back to AD 1120, and its beautiful sandy beaches and sandstone headlands |
Snippets of Information |
| St. Bees is named after St. Bega, said to be an Irish princess who landed here, about 900 AD after sailing across the Irish Sea to avoid an enforced marriage to a Viking chieftan. On the site of an earlier church now stands the splendid 12th Century Priory Church of St Mary and St. Bega. The church was a Benedictine Priory until its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539.
St Bees Head, a red sandstone bluff, forms one of the most dramatic natural features along the entire coast of North West England. There are four miles of towering precipitous cliffs, of 'St Bees sandstone', the red stone used for so many buildings in Cumbria.
A clifftop path going north from St bees takes you to Fleswick Bay, (reknowned for it's precious stones) between St Bees and St Bees Head. This is the first part of the Coast to Coast Walk.
An RSPB nature reserve on the headland is home to England's only colony of Black Guillemots. Puffins, terns and other sea birds can also be studied. There are observation and information points all along the headland.
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Odd Facts |
| St Bees is Cumbria's most westerly point, it was here that St. Bega, an Irish nun, was shipwrecked in the ninth century. Legend has it that St Bega and other surviving nuns went to Lord Egremont for land to build a priory.
His response was that they could have any land that was covered by snow the next day (it was midsummer at the time). Next day land between the castle and the sea was covered in snow, and so the priory was built. |
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St.Bees enjoys clean, sandy beaches |
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