St Bees Priory Cumberland antique print 1784

St Bees Priory. Antique print of St Bees Priory, here described as St Bees Monastery, it is now the parish church of St Bees, Cumberland (Cumbria,) on the Irish Sea coast just south of St. Bees Head, the most westerly point of Northern England. There is evidence for a pre-Norman religious site, and on this a Benedictine priory was founded by the first Norman Lord of Egremont William Meschin, and was dedicated by Archbishop Thurstan of York, sometime between 1120 and 1135. Original copper-plate engraving dated in the plate 12 March 1784. Size of engraved area approx 5x6ins. A scarce item from Francis Grose's "Antiquities of England and Wales."