St Andrews Churchyard

The oldest part of St Andrew’s Church is the Medieval tower which dates from about 1397 with 15th century buttresses added. The remainder of the church was rebuilt in 1720-22 at a cost of £2,253. St. Ninian brought Christianity to this area about 1,500 years ago.

St Andrews Church

St Andrews Churchyard
The War Memorial lies on the right of the path leading to the church entrance. Nearby is the grave of Mary Noble, a lady who died in 1823 at the age of 107 and who was spinning yarn until three months before her death.

St Andrews Churchyard - War Memorial
The badly damaged flat gravestone under the weeping ash tree is that of John and Mary Hutchinson, William Wordsworth in-laws.
The ‘Giant’s Grave’, according to legend, is the burial place of Owen Caesarius, King of Cumbria between 920 and 937AD.
Directly opposite the Giant’s Grave is the 1850’s remodelled 1564 Grammar School; it is now the town library.
The ‘Giant’s Thumb’ nearby is a Norse wheel cross dating from around 920AD; at one time it was used as a whipping post. More info on the Giant’s Grave and Giant’s Thumb
Explore the church and grounds then proceed down St Andrews Place and Bishop Yards.

St Andrews Churchyard - Giants Thumb
The inscription ‘RB1563’ on the gable of the Tudor House refers to its owner Robert Bartram, a draper who died 1577. The adjoining section of the later building immediately to the right was Dame Birkett’s School; William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy and wife-to-be Mary Hutchinson attended this school.

St Andrews Place
St. Andrew’s Centre was built as the Parish Rooms in 1894 on the site of the old cock-fighting pit.
The adjacent restaurant was formerly Penrith’s first Roman Catholic Chapel. Later it became the office and works of the ‘Penrith Observer’. The section beyond once belonged to the Bishop and is now known as Bishop Yards.