St Michael's Mount ~ Mounts Bay, Cornwall (NT)
St Michael's Mount has a larger cousin in Mont St. Michel in France and it was the Abbot of the community in Normandy who built here in Cornwall. The church and castle perched on top of the rocky island can be reached on foot over the causeway at low tide, or by ferry across the sea. Although constructed entirely from the same type of granite, the buildings date from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries and thus have a long and colourful history.
The name comes from the vision of St Michael seen by local fishermen around 495 AD. In the sixth century, the island was visited by the Welsh Saint Cadoc, who reputedly found his aunt living there. There is some evidence that the site was used by a religious community before the Norman invasion and there is an old carved stone cross on the island dating from before the Benedictine Priory built here in 1135. In September 1275, the church was all but destroyed by an earthquake and was rebuilt during the fourteenth century. The monks were still at that time under the authority of the French Abbot of Mont St. Michel and were thus under suspicion during the wars between France and England. An inventory was ordered by King Edward I and it shows the monks living a frugal and simple religious life. During the Black Death in 1385 the number of monks dwindled to two, plus the Prior.
The connection with the larger Abbey in France ceased in the fifteenth century when Henry V declared war on France and claimed the mount as alien property. It was granted to the Brigittine Abbey of Syon at Twickenham. The Abbess of Syon kept good records of the revenues and property at the Mount, some of which survive. The Mount was involved in the Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth century and was the refuge of Perkin Warbeck, the impostor who claimed the Crown for the house of York. When the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII, his commissioners came and took all the valuable items from the church. In 1549 the Mount was the scene of the Prayer Book Rebellion, when the Governor of the Mount, Humphrey Arundell, was away, local protestors against the instigation of the English Prayer Book (as opposed to Latin) took possession of the Mount.
In 1587 the beacon signal on the Mount was lit to warn of the approach of the Spanish Armada. Although not successful on this occasion, in 1595 four Spanish galleons landed two hundred men at nearby Mousehole and burned it virtually to the ground. Newlyn and Penzance were also set on fire, but the Spaniards were repulsed by a local fighting force under Sir Francis Goldolphin. The Mount then held a garrison for many years, obtaining guns and ammunition by petitions to the Crown.
During the Civil War, the Mount was fortified by the then owner, Francis Basset, later knighted for his service to the Crown. King Charles II was lodged at the Mount before embarking for the Scilly Isles for safety. Parliamentary troops landed and the Mount was surrendered in 1646. The following year Colonel John St. Aubyn became Captain of the Mount and the castle remained in the hands of the family for three hundred years.
The eighteenth century alterations under Sir John Aubyn include the conversion of the old Lady Chapel to the present Blue Drawing Room, a delightfully elegant Gothick room with Chippendale and Wedgwood echoes. The Chevy Chase Room was originally the Refectory of the monastery and contains furniture and decoration spanning the centuries of its occupation.
On display throughout the castle are many paintings and engravings of the Mount. Such a picturesque scene has inspired artists through many centuries and was chosen as the site from which to broadcast the BBC coverage of the Summer Eclipse in 1999.