Heysham

The charming seaside village of Heysham, in the Lancaster district, on the edge of Morecambe Bay is just a few miles from both Lancaster and Morecambe.

Here in Heysham you will find St Patrick's Chapel. The much-photographed ruined chapel stands on a prominent rock, overlooking Morecambe Bay.

The chapel dates from around 750 AD and most observers can no longer see any reason to support the myth that the chapel was built by St Patrick, who actually died around 490 AD. It is thought that the chapel was built to serve a monastic community. All that remains is the south wall containing a doorway and the east wall. Close to the chapel, and chiefly south of it, are burial grounds in which 85 sets of bones were found.

St Patrick’s Chapel is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is now owned by the National Trust, as are adjacent burial grounds, the Rock Hewn Graves and a part of Heysham Head.

The surrounding coast is full of attractive 17th century cottages and its colourful floral displays have twice won it Britain in Bloom’s Gold Small Village!

British landscape painter JMW Turner must have also thought it rather an agreeable place, he painted Heysham with a spectacular Lakeland backdrop when he was touring Lancashire back in the 1790s. There has been some kind of settlement in Heysham since the Stone Age, and consequently the whole area is dotted with ancient sites, including one of the finest Anglo-Viking sites in the North West. Enjoy the clean sea air on a stroll around The Barrows, an area of cliffs where many tools and pottery artefacts have been found, suggesting it was once an ancient burial ground.

Within a relatively small area you’ll find woodland, open grassland, sandy beaches and deep rock pools. Discover more about Heysham’s history at the newly refurbished Heysham Heritage Centre, housed in a beautiful 17th century farmhouse. It’s a whopping 66 miles from Heysham to the Isle of Man, that’s around three times further than England’s closest point to France. But you can take a ferry there from Heysham Harbour – it’ll take you about 3.5 hours.