meschin built the original parts of egremont castle at egremont. it was a motte-and-bailey stone castle on the river ehen. he and his wife also founded the augustinian priory of embsay priory. katrina legg argues that meschin's main motive for the foundation was to show support for a monastic order that enjoyed the patronage of king henry i. against this, legg feels that meschin's wife's motives were more probably religious, as she was close to thurstan, the archbishop of york. another religious foundation of meschin's was st bees priory, a daughter house of st mary's abbey, york. st bees was founded around the same time as embsay, embsay was founded between 1120 and 1121, and st bees was founded sometime after 1120.