Delille.

The village of St. Bees is a place of great antiquity, and holds a distinguished place among the theological seminaries of the kingdom, owing to the high reputation of the late Dr. Ainger, and his able and distinguished successor, the Rev. W. Buddicom, principal of the college. The chapel, which is built of freestone, is part of an ancient church belonging to a monastery, founded here by St. Bega, a holy woman of the seventh century. The form of the building is that of a cross. The western portion, or nave, is now fitted up as the parish church, the great door of which is ornamented with grotesque heads, chevron mouldings, and other ornamental work in the ancient ecclesiastical style. It formerly contained a large wooden statue of Anthony, the last Lord Lucy of Egremont.

The original building having been destroyed by the Danes, William, son of Ralph de Meschines, Earl of Cumberland, undertook its restoration in the reign of Henry the First, and made it a cell for the prior and six Benedictine monks to the Abbey of St. Mary, at York. It was endowed, at the dissolution of monasteries and religious houses, with a hundred and fifty pounds, and granted by Edward the Sixth, along with the manor, rectory, and other estates, to Sir Thomas Challoner; but afterwards revoked, and given by Queen Mary to the Bishop of Chester and his successors.

The eastern part of the abbey, built in the thirteenth century, was fitted up about twenty-four years ago as a college, containing a public hall and lecture-room for the students, the end of the ancient cross-aisle being converted into a library, with an excellent collection of approved works on divinity. This valuable institution was commenced under the auspices of the late Bishop of Chester, Dr. Law. Its object is to afford such young men of the northern provinces as have not the opportunity of prosecuting their studies at Oxford or Cambridge, the means of fitting themselves for entering into holy orders; and the success which has already attended this pious and patriotic measure has been highly gratifying. Previous to admission, it is expected that every candidate shall furnish evidence of his having received a classical school-education, with testimonials of moral character; and, after two years' study, he is entitled to be received on trial for ordination. A gentleman who lately studied here, and who is now a most efficient and zealous minister of the Church, speaks in very favourable terms of the judicious arrangement which has latterly marked the theological course at St. Bees; and improvements still more decided, it appears, are in contemplation under its present administration.

Edmund Grindall, Archbishop of Canterbury, was a native of Hensingham, in this parish; and, in 1583, obtained letters-patent for the foundation of a free grammar-school at St. Bees, in which gratuitous instruction in the classics was provided for a hundred boys. This institution is under the management of a corporation of seven governors, two of whom are the provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and the rector of Egremont.

It has produced several learned characters, among whom was the pious Dr. Hall,[16] bishop of Norwich, whose eventful life is familiar to every reader of ecclesiastical history. Much of the prosperity of the village of St. Bees depends on the lodgings which it supplies to the students during term.

The parish of St. Bees is of great extent; and, judging from the ruins still observable, must have been fortified by the Romans at all the convenient landing-places along the shore, which here, and particularly to the northward, presents many vestiges of their military occupation. The village stands on the margin of the bay formed by the southern promontory of St. Bees'-head.