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St Bees

St Bees Head, a red sandstone bluff, forms one of the most dramatic natural features along the entire coast of nrthwest England. Some four miles long and 300 feet high, these towering, precipitous cliffs are formed of
St Bes sandstone, the red rock that is so characteristic of Cumbria. Far out to sea, on the horizon, can be seen the grey hadow of the Isle of Man and, on a clear day, the shimmering outline of the Irish coast. From St Bees the 190-mile Coast to Coast Walk starts on its long journey across the Pennines to Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire.

Long before the first lighthouse was built here in 1822, there was a beacon on the headland to warn and guide passing ships away from the rocks. The present 99ft high lighthouse dates from 1866, built after an earlier one was destroed by fire.

St Bees Head is now an important Nature Reserve and the cliffs are crowded with guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, gulls, gannets and skuas. Bird-watchers are well-provided for with observation and information points all along the headland. There is a superb walk of about eight miles along the coastal footpath around the headland from St Bees to Whitehaven. The route passes Saltam Bay and Saltam Pit, which dates from 1729 and was the world's first undersea mineshaft. The original lamp house for the pit has been restored and is now used by HM Coastguard.

St Bees itself is a delightful place to explore, with its main street winding up the hillside between old farms and cottages. The Priory at St Bees grew in size and importance until it was destroyed by the Danes in the 10th century: the Benedictines later re-established the priory in 1129. The Priory Church of St Mary and St Bega is all that is now left, and although it has been substantially altered, there is still a magnificent Norman arch and a pre-Conquest carved Beowulf Stone on a lintel between the church and the vicarage, showing St Michael killing a dragon. The most stunning feature of all is much more modern, a sumptuos art nouveau metalwork screen. In the south aisle is a small museum.

Close by the church are the charming Abbey Cottages and St Bees School with its handsome clock tower. The school was founded in 1583 by Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury under Elizabeth I, and the son of a local farmer. The original red sandstone quadrangle bears his coat of arms and the bridge he gave to the village is still in use. Among the school's most famous alumni is the actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson, creator of the ineffable Mr Bean.

Like many other towns on the West Cumbrian coast, St Bees is lucky to still have a regular train service with up to 18 passenger trains daily. Two local industries are to be thanked for this: the making of railway tracks at Workington and the occasional transportation of spent nuclear waste from Sellafield, both of which required rail transport.