A traditional story in the neighbourhood of Egremont relates the
circumstance of a lady of the Lucy family being devoured by a wolf.
According to one version this catastrophe occurred on an evening
walk near the Castle; whilst, a more popular rendering of the
legend ascribes it to an occasion on which the lord of the manor,
with his lady and servants, were hunting in the forest; when the
lady having been lost in the ardour of the chase, was after a long
search and heart-rending suspense, found lying on a bank slain by
a wolf which was in the act of tearing her to pieces. The place is
distinguished by a mound of earth, near the village of Beckermet,
on the banks of the Ehen, about a mile below Egremont. The name of
Woto Bank, or Wodow Bank as the modern mansion erected near the
spot is called, is said to be derived by traditionary etymology,
from the expression to which in the first transports of his grief
the distracted husband gave utterance--"Woe to this bank."
Hutchinson is inclined to believe "that this place has been witness
to many bloody conflicts, as appears by the monuments scattered on
all hands in its neighbourhood; and by some the story is supposed
to be no more than an emblematic allusion to such conflicts during
the invasion of the Danes. It is asserted that no such relation is
to be found in the history of the Lucy family; so that it must be
fabulous, or figurative of some other event."
There are, however, yet to be seen in the burial ground attached to
the Abbey Church of St. Bees, the remaining parts of two monumental
figures which may reasonably be presumed to have reference to some
such event as that recorded by tradition. The fragments, which are
much mutilated, are of stone; and the sculpture appears to be of
great antiquity. Common report has assigned to these remains the
names of Lord and Lady Lucy.
In their original state, the figures were of gigantic size. The
features and legs are now destroyed. The Lord is represented with
his sword sheathed. There is a shield on his arm, which appears to
have been quartered, but the bearings upon it are entirely defaced.
On the breast of the Lady is an unshapely protuberance. This was
originally the roughly sculptured limb of a wolf, which even so
lately as the year 1806, might be distinctly ascertained. These
figures were formerly placed in an horizontal position, at the top
of two raised altar tombs within the church. The tomb of the Lady
was at the foot of her Lord, and a wolf was represented as standing
over it. The protuberance above mentioned, on the breast of the
Lady, the paw of the wolf, is all that now remains of the animal.
About a century since, the figure of the wolf wanted but one leg,
as many of the inhabitants, whose immediate ancestors remembered it
nearly entire, can testify. The horizontal position of the figures
rendered them peculiarly liable to injuries, from the silent and
irresistible ravages of time. Their present state is, however,
principally to be attributed to the falling in of the outer walls
of the priory, and more particularly to their having been used,
many years since, by the boys of the Free Grammar School, as a mark
to fire at. There can be little doubt that the limb of the wolf has
reference to the story of one of the Ladies Lucy related above.
It may not however be unworthy of remark, that the Lucies were
connected, through the family of Meschines, with Hugh d' Abrincis,
Earl of Chester, who in the year 1070 is said to have borne azure a
wolf's head erased argent, and who had the surname of Lupus.
The wife of Hugh Lupus was sister to Ranulph de Meschin.
The family of Meschines has been said to be descended from that
at Rome called by the name Mæcenas, from which the former one is
corrupted. "Certainly," says a recent writer, "it has proved itself
the Mæcenas of the Priory of St. Bees, not merely in the foundation
of that religious house, but also in the charters for a long course
of years, which have been granted by persons of different names,
indeed, but descended from, or connected with, the same beneficent
stock." This is shown in the following extract from a MS. in the
Harleian Collection:--
"Be y^t notid that Wyllyam Myschen son of Ranolf Lord of Egermond
founded the monastery of Saint Beysse of blake monks, and heyres to
the said Meschyn y^s the Lords Fitzwal, the Lord Haryngton, and the
Lord Lucy, and so restyth founders of the said monastery therle of
Sussex the Lord Marques Dorset, therle of Northumberland as heyres
to the Lords aforesaid."
The religious house thus restored, consisting of a prior and six
Benedictine monks, was made a cell to the mitred Abbey of Saint
Mary, at York. And under this cell, Bishop Tanner says, there was a
small nunnery situated at Rottington, about a mile from St. Bees.
At the dissolution, the annual revenues of this priory, according
to Dugdale, were £143 17_s._ 2_d._; or, by Speed's valuation, £149
19_s._ 6_d._; from which it appears there were only two religious
houses in the county more amply endowed, viz. the priory of
Holme-Cultram, and the Priory of St. Mary, Carlisle; which latter
was constituted a cathedral church at the Reformation.
The conventual church of St. Bees is in the usual form of a cross,
and consists of a nave with aisles, a choir, and transepts, with a
massive tower, at the intersection, which until lately terminated
in an embattled parapet. This part of the building is now
disfigured by an addition to enable it to carry some more bells.
The rest of the edifice is in the early English style, and has been
thoroughly restored with great taste and feeling. On the south
side of the nave there was formerly a recumbent wooden figure, in
mail armour, supposed to have been the effigy of Anthony, the last
Lord Lucy of Egremont, who died A. D. 1368. The Lady Chapel, which
had been a roofless ruin for two centuries, was fitted up as a
lecture-room for the College established by Bishop Law in 1817.
The priors of this religious house ranked as barons of the Isle of
Man; as the Abbot of the superior house, St. Mary's, at York, was
entitled to a seat amongst the parliamentary barons of England.
As such he was obliged to give his attendance upon the kings and
lords of Man, whensoever they required it, or at least, upon every
new succession in the government. The neglect of this important
privilege would probably involve the loss of the tithes and lands
in that island, which the devotion of the kings had conferred upon
the priory of St. Bees.
In the library of the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle is the following
curious account of the discovery of a giant at St. Bees:--
"A true report of Hugh Hodson, of Thorneway, in Cumberland, to S^r
Rob Cewell (qy. Sewell) of a Gyant found at S. Bees, in Cumb'land,
1601, before X^t mas.
"The said Gyant was buried 4 yards deep in the ground, w^{ch} is
now a corn feild.
"He was 4 yards and an half long, and was in complete armour: his
sword and battle-axe lying by him.
"His sword was two spans broad and more than 2 yards long.
"The head of his battle axe a yard long, and the shaft of it all of
iron, as thick as a man's thigh, and more than 2 yards long.
"His teeth were 6 inches long, and 2 inches broad; his forehead was
more than 2 spans and a half broad.
"His chine bone could containe 3 pecks of oatmeale.
"His armour, sword, and battle-axe, are at Mr. Sand's of Redington,
(Rottington) and at Mr. Wyber's, at St. Bees."--
Machel MSS. Vol. vi.