Lintel and Cross, St Bees Priory

Ancient stone lintel and waymarker, St Bees Priory, St Bees, Cumbria.
This stone lintel with both Scandinavian and Celtic influence shows St Michael slaying a dragon, and is dated around 1120. It may have been from the first Norman church on this site. It was perhaps disposed of when the new West Door was built about 20 years later. The lintel was discovered in the 1800s during restoration work.
Below the lintel is a cross which once stood at the top of the hill on the main road to Whitehaven. It was probably a 'sanctuary cross', marking both the boundary of the parish, and a resting place on a coffin road. The coffin roads date from medieval times when many West Cumbrian parishes did not have the licence to bury their dead, and bodies needed to be carried to St Bees. Grade 1 Listed.