St Bees
Encyclopedia
St Bees is a village
and civil parish
in the Copeland
district of Cumbria
, in the North of England, about five miles west southwest of Whitehaven
. The parish had a population of 1,717 according to the 2001 census. Within the parish is St. Bees Head
, the most westerly point of Northern England
upon which stands St Bees Lighthouse
.
St Bees has a Norman priory
and an Elizabethan
school, and is the start of the famous Wainwright
Coast to Coast Walk
. St Bees Head is the only major sea cliff between Wales
and Scotland
, is the only Heritage Coastline in Cumbria and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is the spectacular location of one of England's most important cliff seabird colonies. There is a large sandy beach just south of the South Head and within easy walking distance of the main village centre.
name for the village, which is given in the earliest charter of the Priory as "Kyrkeby becok", which can be translated as the "Church town of Bega", relating to the local Saint Bega
. She was said to be an Irish princess who fled across the Irish Sea
to St Bees to avoid an enforced marriage. Carved stones in the parish churchyard testify that Irish-Norse Vikings settled here in the 10th century.
.
Evidence of Mesolithic and Bronze Age habitation has been found in St Bees, but nothing of the Roman occupation. The Normans
did not reach Cumbria until 1092, and when eventually they took over the local lordships, William le Meschin, Lord of Egremont, used an existing religious site to build a grand monastic building to house a prior and six monks, sometime between 1120 and 1135, which was subordinate to the great Benedictine monastery of St Mary at York
. The magnificent Norman doorway of the priory dates from just after this time.
The priory
had a great influence on the area. The monks worked the land, fished, and extended the priory buildings. The ecclesiastical parish of St Bees was large and stretched to Ennerdale
, Loweswater
, Wasdale
and Eskdale
. The coffin routes from these outlying areas to the mother church
in St Bees can still be followed in places.
The priory was closed during the Reformation
on the orders of Henry VIII
in 1539. The nave of the monastic church has continued in use as the parish church to the present day, but much of the extensive monastic buildings were plundered or fell into decay.
Remarkably, the small West Cumbrian village of St Bees produced two of the Archbishop
s of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
: Edmund Grindal
; Archbishop of Canterbury
and Edwin Sandys
; Archbishop of York
..
In about 1519 Edmund Grindal was born in Cross Hill House, St Bees, which still exists, and is marked with a plaque. He was probably educated at the priory across the valley. A devout Protestant, he made his mark in the reign of Edward VI, but had to flee to Strasbourg
when the Catholic Mary I
ascended the throne. On Mary's death the country once again became Protestant, and Grindal became Bishop of London
, Archbishop of York
and then Archbishop of Canterbury
. His undoing was opposing Queen Elizabeth I on liberal religious meetings and he was suspended. He died in 1583 still in disgrace, but, virtually on his death bed, he founded St Bees School which exists today as a co-educational independent school with around 300 pupils aged 11 to 18. The village now has two schools; the present primary school was established in the 1870s.
In 1981 an archaeological excavation at the priory revealed a vault with a lead coffin containing an astonishingly well preserved body - now known as the "St Bees Man". He has been identified as Anthony de Lucy, a knight
, who died in 1368 in the Teutonic Crusades
in Prussia
. Although the body was over six hundred years old, his nails, skin and stomach contents were found to be in near-perfect condition.. After his death the vault was enlarged to take the body of his sister, Maud de Lucy, who died in 1398. The effigies which are probably of both Maud and Anthony can be seen in the extensive history display which includes the shroud in which he was wrapped.
The 19th century saw the start of great changes. In 1816 St Bees Theological College was founded, and was the first theological college for the training of Church of England
clergy outside Oxford
and Cambridge
. To house the college, the monastic chancel of the Priory was re-roofed and served as the main lecture room, and additional lecture rooms were built in the 1860's. At one time the college had 100 students, and over 2,600 clergy were trained before it closed in 1895.
St. Bees School started its era of expansion with the building of the quadrangle in 1846 using compensation from the rich mine-owning Lowther family, who had illegally obtained the lucrative mineral rights for Whitehaven from the school in 1742 at a derisory sum. This was the first step in St. Bees School's rise from a local institution to becoming one of the new “public schools” on the fashionable model of Dr Arnold
’s Rugby
. By 1916 numbers had reached 350, many new buildings had been erected, and the school had become known nationally.
Perhaps some of the greatest changes were after 1849 when the Furness Railway
reached the village. St Bees attracted the professional classes which commuted to Whitehaven
or Workington
. This led to the building of many of the larger houses and Lonsdale Terrace.
The railway brought tourists, and as early as 1851 the Lord Mayor of London
stayed at the Seacote Hotel. This long history of attracting tourists for “bucket and spade” holidays has continued to this day.
The railway made possible the export of St Bees sandstone
. Huge amounts of stone were quarried, much of it for building the boom town of Barrow-in-Furness
. This industry died out in the 1970s, but has since been revived, and there are now two working quarries in the parish.
Agriculture was originally the mainstay of the village economy. Gradually, during the 19th century, service employment for the school and lodgings for the college gave additional income, and with the advent of commuters, the village’s social mix was becoming more middle class. Tourism and quarries also provided employment, and many village men found work in the iron ore mines at Cleator
. Thus the 19th century saw the change from a rural backwater based on agriculture, to the more diversified role of a dormitory village for professional and industrial worker alike, and it's growth into a minor academic centre.
The start of the 20th century saw yet another decline in agriculture, and this has continued to today, when there are only a few farms left. Industrial decline also hit West Cumbria as a whole, particularly after the boom years of both world war
s. However, following the Second World War, two major industries were established which have had a profound effect on the community. The former Marchon Chemical Company at Whitehaven
, and UKAEA/BNFL at Sellafield
both soaked up village labour released by the declining heavy iron and mining industries, and brought a large influx of the technical and scientific university-educated middle class into the village; rather like the first arrival of the professional classes a century earlier. There is now an extensive science park - Westlakes, on the northern fringe of the parish, at which the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
has its national headquarters, and the last two decades have seen a significant revival in tourism.
on the Cumbrian Coast Line
, running from Carnforth
to Carlisle
, and is on the B5345 from Whitehaven to Iron Bridge junction, Beckermet.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the Copeland
Copeland, Cumbria
Copeland is a local government district and borough in western Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Whitehaven. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Whitehaven, Ennerdale Rural District and Millom Rural District....
district of Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, in the North of England, about five miles west southwest of Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
. The parish had a population of 1,717 according to the 2001 census. Within the parish is St. Bees Head
St. Bees Head
St Bees Head is a headland on the North West coast of the English county of Cumbria and is named after the nearby village of St Bees.It lies on the Cumbria Coastal Way and WainwrightCoast to Coast long-distance footpaths, it is the only stretch of Heritage Coast on the English coastline between the...
, the most westerly point of Northern England
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
upon which stands St Bees Lighthouse
St Bees Lighthouse
St Bees Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on St Bees Head near the village of St Bees in Cumbria, England.The first lighthouse on the site began its life in 1718 on land brought by Trinity House, one of the UK's General Lighthouse Authorities. It was constructed by Thomas Lutwige who paid a lease...
.
St Bees has a Norman priory
St Bees Priory
St Bees Priory is the parish church of St Bees, Cumbria. The Benedictine priory was founded by William le Meschin, Lord of Egremont on an earlier religious site, and was dedicated by Archbishop Thurstan of York sometime between 1120 and 1135...
and an Elizabethan
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
school, and is the start of the famous Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...
Coast to Coast Walk
Coast to Coast Walk
The Coast to Coast Walk is a 192-mile unofficial and mostly unsignposted long distance footpath in Northern England...
. St Bees Head is the only major sea cliff between Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, is the only Heritage Coastline in Cumbria and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is the spectacular location of one of England's most important cliff seabird colonies. There is a large sandy beach just south of the South Head and within easy walking distance of the main village centre.
History
The name St Bees is a corruption of the NorseNorsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
name for the village, which is given in the earliest charter of the Priory as "Kyrkeby becok", which can be translated as the "Church town of Bega", relating to the local Saint Bega
Saint Bega
Stained glass window in [[St Bees Priory]] showing the arrival of St Bega on the coast.|thumb|rightSaint Bega was reputedly a saint of the Early Middle Ages; an Irish princess who valued virginity. Promised in marriage to a Viking prince who, according to a medieval manuscript The Life of St Bega,...
. She was said to be an Irish princess who fled across the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
to St Bees to avoid an enforced marriage. Carved stones in the parish churchyard testify that Irish-Norse Vikings settled here in the 10th century.
The Priory and School
Evidence of Mesolithic and Bronze Age habitation has been found in St Bees, but nothing of the Roman occupation. The Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
did not reach Cumbria until 1092, and when eventually they took over the local lordships, William le Meschin, Lord of Egremont, used an existing religious site to build a grand monastic building to house a prior and six monks, sometime between 1120 and 1135, which was subordinate to the great Benedictine monastery of St Mary at York
St Mary's Abbey, York
The Abbey of St Mary in York, once the richest abbey in the north of England, is a ruined Benedictine abbey that lies in what are now the Yorkshire Museum Gardens, on a steeply sloping site to the west of York Minster. The original abbey on the site was founded in 1055 and dedicated to Saint Olave...
. The magnificent Norman doorway of the priory dates from just after this time.
The priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
had a great influence on the area. The monks worked the land, fished, and extended the priory buildings. The ecclesiastical parish of St Bees was large and stretched to Ennerdale
Ennerdale
Ennerdale may refer to:* Ennerdale, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa* Ennerdale Water, a lake in the Lake District in England**Ennerdale Bridge, a nearby settlement...
, Loweswater
Loweswater, Cumbria
Loweswater is a village and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England.-Village:The village lies between the Lake District lakes of Loweswater and Crummock Water, about south of Cockermouth and within the Lake District National Park...
, Wasdale
Wasdale
Wasdale is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwater, the deepest lake in England...
and Eskdale
Eskdale
-United Kingdom:*Eskdale, Cumbria, England*Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland*Eskdale, North Yorkshire, England*Eskdale , Cumberland, England, former constituency-United States:...
. The coffin routes from these outlying areas to the mother church
Mother Church
In Christianity, the term mother church or Mother Church may have one of the following meanings:# The first mission church in an area, or a pioneer cathedral# A basilica or cathedral# The main chapel of a province of a religious order...
in St Bees can still be followed in places.
The priory was closed during the Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
on the orders of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
in 1539. The nave of the monastic church has continued in use as the parish church to the present day, but much of the extensive monastic buildings were plundered or fell into decay.
Remarkably, the small West Cumbrian village of St Bees produced two of the Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
s of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
: Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...
; Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
and Edwin Sandys
Edwin Sandys
Edwin Sandys may refer to:*Edwin Sandys , Bishop of London, Worcester, Archbishop of York*Edwin Sandys , a founder of the colony of Virginia, son of the above...
; Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
..
In about 1519 Edmund Grindal was born in Cross Hill House, St Bees, which still exists, and is marked with a plaque. He was probably educated at the priory across the valley. A devout Protestant, he made his mark in the reign of Edward VI, but had to flee to Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
when the Catholic Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
ascended the throne. On Mary's death the country once again became Protestant, and Grindal became Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
, Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
and then Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. His undoing was opposing Queen Elizabeth I on liberal religious meetings and he was suspended. He died in 1583 still in disgrace, but, virtually on his death bed, he founded St Bees School which exists today as a co-educational independent school with around 300 pupils aged 11 to 18. The village now has two schools; the present primary school was established in the 1870s.
In 1981 an archaeological excavation at the priory revealed a vault with a lead coffin containing an astonishingly well preserved body - now known as the "St Bees Man". He has been identified as Anthony de Lucy, a knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, who died in 1368 in the Teutonic Crusades
Northern Crusades
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were crusades undertaken by the Christian kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian and Teutonic military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea...
in Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. Although the body was over six hundred years old, his nails, skin and stomach contents were found to be in near-perfect condition.. After his death the vault was enlarged to take the body of his sister, Maud de Lucy, who died in 1398. The effigies which are probably of both Maud and Anthony can be seen in the extensive history display which includes the shroud in which he was wrapped.
Sport
The village has a rather unsuccessful football team who compete in the Cumbria County league on a saturday. The most successful player to come through the ranks at the club was Zac Starkie who joined Gretna FC as a youth player and went on to play for Zimbabwe Under 21's football team as he was eligible through his Grandmothers origin.Growth of the village
The site of the priory is on an area of firm ground higher than the peat beds that fill the valley, and it is logical that the original settlement would grow up there. However the area was constricted, and as the village expanded it grew on up the opposite side of the valley. The oldest existing house dates from the early 16th century and the present Main Street was created from a string of farms and farmworkers' dwellings.The 19th century saw the start of great changes. In 1816 St Bees Theological College was founded, and was the first theological college for the training of Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergy outside Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. To house the college, the monastic chancel of the Priory was re-roofed and served as the main lecture room, and additional lecture rooms were built in the 1860's. At one time the college had 100 students, and over 2,600 clergy were trained before it closed in 1895.
St. Bees School started its era of expansion with the building of the quadrangle in 1846 using compensation from the rich mine-owning Lowther family, who had illegally obtained the lucrative mineral rights for Whitehaven from the school in 1742 at a derisory sum. This was the first step in St. Bees School's rise from a local institution to becoming one of the new “public schools” on the fashionable model of Dr Arnold
Thomas Arnold
Dr Thomas Arnold was a British educator and historian. Arnold was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement...
’s Rugby
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
. By 1916 numbers had reached 350, many new buildings had been erected, and the school had become known nationally.
Perhaps some of the greatest changes were after 1849 when the Furness Railway
Furness Railway
The Furness Railway was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.-History:The company was established on May 23, 1844 when the Furness Railway Act was passed by Parliament...
reached the village. St Bees attracted the professional classes which commuted to Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
or Workington
Workington
Workington is a town, civil parish and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England, at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the Borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport...
. This led to the building of many of the larger houses and Lonsdale Terrace.
The railway brought tourists, and as early as 1851 the Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
stayed at the Seacote Hotel. This long history of attracting tourists for “bucket and spade” holidays has continued to this day.
The railway made possible the export of St Bees sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. Huge amounts of stone were quarried, much of it for building the boom town of Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
. This industry died out in the 1970s, but has since been revived, and there are now two working quarries in the parish.
Agriculture was originally the mainstay of the village economy. Gradually, during the 19th century, service employment for the school and lodgings for the college gave additional income, and with the advent of commuters, the village’s social mix was becoming more middle class. Tourism and quarries also provided employment, and many village men found work in the iron ore mines at Cleator
Cleator
Cleator is a village in the English county of Cumbria and within the boundaries of the traditional county of Cumberland.Cleator is 1½ miles south of the town of Cleator Moor on the A5086 road. Cleator was the original village, Cleator Moor being the moor above the village. It is the site of the...
. Thus the 19th century saw the change from a rural backwater based on agriculture, to the more diversified role of a dormitory village for professional and industrial worker alike, and it's growth into a minor academic centre.
The start of the 20th century saw yet another decline in agriculture, and this has continued to today, when there are only a few farms left. Industrial decline also hit West Cumbria as a whole, particularly after the boom years of both world war
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
s. However, following the Second World War, two major industries were established which have had a profound effect on the community. The former Marchon Chemical Company at Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
, and UKAEA/BNFL at Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
both soaked up village labour released by the declining heavy iron and mining industries, and brought a large influx of the technical and scientific university-educated middle class into the village; rather like the first arrival of the professional classes a century earlier. There is now an extensive science park - Westlakes, on the northern fringe of the parish, at which the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom formed by the Energy Act 2004. It came into existence in late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005...
has its national headquarters, and the last two decades have seen a significant revival in tourism.
Transport
The village is served by St Bees railway stationSt Bees railway station
thumb|left|Double headed goods at St Bees 2009thumb|left|St Bees station from the northSt Bees Railway Station serves the village of St Bees in Cumbria, England.-Description:...
on the Cumbrian Coast Line
Cumbrian Coast Line
The Cumbrian Coast Line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main...
, running from Carnforth
Carnforth railway station
Carnforth railway station is a railway station that serves the town of Carnforth in Lancashire. The building was designed by architect William Tite and was famously used as the location in the 1945 film Brief Encounter. It is now operated by TransPennine Express.-History:Carnforth station was...
to Carlisle
Carlisle railway station
Carlisle railway station, also known as Carlisle Citadel station, is a railway station whichserves the Cumbrian City of Carlisle, England, and is a major station on the West Coast Main Line, lying south of Glasgow Central, and north of London Euston...
, and is on the B5345 from Whitehaven to Iron Bridge junction, Beckermet.