ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT

Cornwall

St. Michael's Mount is surely the symbol of Cornwall and all things Cornish.

This being Cornwall, the Mount itself was created by a giant in prehistoric times...something it shares with the Isle of Man, Lundy and a good many other British islands!  The Mount is reached along a causeway at low tide, and by boat at high tide.

There was certainly some kind of fortification here by the 12th century, although probably not a Castle as we know it - the Normans didn't reach this far into Cornwall until well into the 13th century.

In fact long before anything remotely "Castle-like" was constructed here the Benedictines had moved in and built a monastery.  Oddly enough the parent house for this monastery was that other one across the Channel on Mont St. Michel in France.  St. Michael's Mount was never really a Castle by design - it only kind of happened that way because of its position and the inaccesibility of the Mount.  In 1193 Henry de la Pomeroy seized the Mount and held it for Prince John...the Archbishop of Canterbury (incredibly) led the siege which relieved the Castle.  In 1473 there was a second siege.

The Earl of Oxford, one of the last supports of the House of Lancaster, gained access to the Castle by disguising himself and his men as a band of monks.  Once there they defied capture for six months.  After the Dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII had the Mount garrisoned.  It was stormed once again in 1549.

When owned by the St. Aubyn family in Victorian times a great deal of rebuilding work was done to give St. Michael's Mount the "castellated" appearance it has today.

St. Michael's Mount - although never really a Castle - is the jewel in the crown of The National Trust and is, without any doubt, a must-see when visiting the West of England.

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© Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions, Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
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2001