St Patrick's Chapel, Heysham — Attraction in Lancaster

The area around Heysham is one of the most beautiful on the southern portion of Morecambe bay. The pretty little village overlooks the spectacular bay that people in the know dearly love. Aside from that, the 8th century partially ruined chapel of At Patrick includes the eerily beautiful 'stone coffins' (in reality reliquaries). The views from here, especially on a quiet day, reward with a peace and tranquility that's hard to find in today's bustling people-heavy world. The chapel adjoins the 14th century St Peter's with it's graveyard that's clinging to the slopes that tumble down to the sea wall overlooking the bay.

Top tip: park up, enjoy what the village has to offer then walk along the promenade that heads towards Morecambe. It's less than an hour to reach and once there, if you don't want to walk back you can get a bus back to Heysham; or indeed, do it in reverse! Don't forget to read some of the historical info plaques that line the promenade as you wander along soaking up the atmosphere of a quieter...

St Patrick's Church and rock carved graves, Heysham Came here to find a rock art Labyrinth that dates back to the 9th century and is reputed to have marked the grave of an important Viking leader, however several locals were not unable to point me in the right direction, I couldn't find it alone and internet discussion suggests that it takes several searches to actually locate, so I'll be back!

It is likely the graves would have been originally covered with heavy stone slabs and the sockets at the head of the graves indicate that each one would have been marked with a cross. It is thought that the graves contained disarticulated bones, rather than complete skeletons, and that they may have functioned as 'reliquaries' to hold the remains of saints and other important Christians, perhaps even those of Saint Patrick himself. As such they may have acted as an important focus for veneration and pilgrimage, with St Patrick's Chapel being established here to draw upon their significance and...

Although quite a small archeological site dating back to the 8th century personally I enjoyed my visit to the site of St Patrick’s Chapel. As a grade I listed building it seemed a nice place for some quiet reflection and I enjoyed exploring the area surrounding the site. Even walked down through half moon bay and wandered through the side road up to the port area ( I wanted to visit the tower etc alongside the harbour entrance). All in all it was a pleasant afternoon spent wandering around the harbour and the NT headland associated with the Chapel site. Not too sure about the Viking graves being quite so exposed, including the offset x2 ones as well. Maybe the whole grade 1 site area needs some form of protection from the elements that must batter the area during the winter periods. Guess cost must have something to do with it, though it seems a shame if the gravesite & chapel were lost to...