Pre-Norman parish boundaries suggest that St Bees had considerable pre-Norman influence in the west, and it has been suggested that St Bees was a "minster church" serving the west coast, but there is no firm evidence.John M Todd, The pre-Conquest Church in St Bees, Cumbria: a possible minster?, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and archaeological Society, Vol III, 2003.
