Church of St Bega

The Church of St Bega is a parish church located in Bassenthwaite, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, with restoration work completed in 1874 by Messrs S. Watson of Penrith. The building is constructed from dressed calciferous sandstone, featuring larger medieval blocks, angle buttresses, and flush quoins made of pink sandstone. It has a graduated greenslate roof with coped gables and cross finials.

The church consists of a 2-bay nave with a south aisle and vestry, and a single-bay chancel that includes a south chapel that is continuous with the aisles and vestry. The nave features a 19th-century north round-headed doorway set within a stone porch, a 19th-century 2-light north window, and a double-lancet west window beneath a round plate-tracery window. The south aisle contains paired lancet windows, while the vestry has shouldered windows. The chancel includes a blocked north doorway and a window with two cusped lights, along with a 19th-century 3-light east window and chapel with 19th-century lancets.

Inside the nave, there is a 19th-century open timber roof and a single pointed aisle archway. The chancel arch is unmoulded and rests on simple imposts. The south door now leads to the vestry, near which is a medieval graveslab dedicated to Robert Highmore and a wall plaque for Mary Wane of Scarness from 1741. The church also features the royal arms of George II and a recut octagonal font. A wrought-iron hourglass stand is positioned beside the chancel arch, and the chancel has a side chapel archway similar to that of the aisle. The floor includes a medieval graveslab for a Highmore, and there is a wall plaque for Walter Vane from 1814, created by Paul Nixson of Carlisle. The stained glass in the east window and aisle windows was made in 1874 by Powell Bros of Leeds.