View source for St Michael's Mount

{{Short description|Tidal island in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, England}}
{{For|the island off the coast of Normandy, France|Mont-Saint-Michel}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
| static_image_name = St Michael's Mount View.jpg
| static_image_width = 300
| static_image_caption = St Michael's Mount
| country = England
| official_name = St Michael's Mount
| cornish_name = Karrek Loos yn Koos
| coordinates = {{coord|50.1160|-5.4772|display=inline,title}}
| area_total_sq_mi = 0.09
| population_density = 
| area_footnotes = 
| population = 
| civil_parish = St Michael's Mount
| unitary_england = [[Cornwall Council|Cornwall]]
| lieutenancy_england = [[Cornwall]]
| region = South West England
| london_distance = {{convert|290|mi|km|0}}
| constituency_westminster = [[St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)|St Ives]]
| post_town = MARAZION
| postcode_area = TR
| postcode_district = TR17
| dial_code = 01736
| os_grid_reference = SW514298
| website = {{url|https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/}}
{{Infobox historic site
| embed                = yes
| designation1         = Grade I
| designation1_offname = 
| designation1_date    = 9 October 1987
| designation1_number  = {{listed building England|1143795}}
| designation2         = Historic garden
| designation2_offname = 
| designation2_date    = 11 June 1987
| designation2_number  = {{listed building England|1000654}}
}}
}}

'''St Michael's Mount''' ({{langx|kw|Karrek Loos yn Koos}},<ref>[http://www.magakernow.org.uk/default.aspx?page=520 Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) Main variant]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515091028/http://www.magakernow.org.uk/default.aspx?page=520|date=15 May 2013}}: [http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=79ba408d-7c02-499e-8cd6-b18dd48de58d&version=-1 '''List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel''']. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515071635/http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=79ba408d-7c02-499e-8cd6-b18dd48de58d&version=-1|date=15 May 2013}}. [[Cornish Language Partnership]].</ref> meaning "[[Hoarfrost|hoar]] rock in woodland")<ref>{{cite book |author=Padel |first=O. J. |author-link=Oliver Padel |title=Cornish Place Names |page=122}}</ref> is a [[tidal island]] in [[Mount's Bay]] near [[Penzance]], [[Cornwall]], England, United Kingdom. The island is a [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] and is linked to the town of [[Marazion]] by a [[causeway]] of granite [[Sett (paving)|setts]], passable (as is the beach) between mid-tide and low water. It is managed by the [[National Trust]], and the castle and chapel have been the home of the [[St Aubyn baronets|St Aubyn]] family since around 1650.

Historically, St Michael's Mount was an English counterpart of [[Mont-Saint-Michel]] in [[Normandy]], France, which is also a tidal island, and has a similar conical shape, though Mont-Saint-Michel is much taller.<ref>{{cite book |author=Henderson |first=Charles |title=Cornish Church Guide |publisher=Oscar Blackford |year=1925 |location=Truro |pages=160–161}}</ref>

St Michael's Mount is one of 43 unbridged tidal islands accessible by foot from mainland [[Great Britain|Britain]]. Part of the island was designated as a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]] in 1995 for its [[geology]]. Sea height can vary by up to around {{convert|5|m|ft}} between low and high tide.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cornwall-tides.com/st-michaels-mount-tide-times | title=Cornwall tides }}</ref>

==Etymology==
Its [[Cornish language]] name—literally, "the grey rock in a wood"—may represent a [[folk memory]] of a time before Mount's Bay was flooded, indicating a description of the mount set in woodland. Remains of ancient trees uncovered by storms have been seen at low tides in Mount's Bay<ref>{{cite web |title=UK storms: Ancient forest revealed in Mount's Bay sand |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-26263856 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=4 June 2024 |date=20 February 2014}}</ref> which was submerged in 1700 BC.<ref name="ictis" />

==Prehistory==
There is evidence of people living in the area during the [[Neolithic British Isles|Neolithic]] between around 4000 and 2500 BC. The key discovery was of a leaf-shaped [[flint]] [[arrowhead]] in a shallow pit on the lower eastern slope, now part of the gardens. Other pieces of flint have been found, and at least two could be [[Mesolithic]] (about 8000 to 4000 BC).<ref name="cas">{{cite book |last1=Herring |first1=Peter |title=St Michael's Mount Archaeological Works, 1995–1998 |date=2000 |publisher=Cornwall Archaeological Unit |isbn=978-1-898166-49-8 |location=Truro}}</ref> During the early Mesolithic, Britain was still attached to mainland Europe across the southern North Sea between Kent and East Yorkshire (see [[Doggerland]]) but by the Neolithic, because of rising sea level, had become an island. [[Archaeologist]] and [[Prehistory|prehistorian]] [[Caroline Malone]] has noted that during the Late Mesolithic the [[British Isles]] were something of a "technological backwater" in European terms, still living as a [[hunter-gatherer]] society whilst most of southern Europe had already taken up [[agriculture]] and sedentary living.<ref name=malone>{{cite book|last1=Malone|first1=Caroline|title=Neolithic Britain and Ireland|date=2001|publisher=Tempus|location=Stroud|isbn=978-0-7524-1442-3}}</ref> The mount was then probably an area of dry ground surrounded by a marshy forest. Any Neolithic or Mesolithic camps are likely to have been destroyed by the later extensive building operations, but it is reasonable to expect the mount to have supported a seasonal or short-term camp.<ref name=cas />

None of the flints so far recovered can be positively dated to the [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] (c. 2500 to 800 BC), although any summit cairns would have most likely been destroyed when the castle was built. [[Radiocarbon dating]] established the submerging of the hazel wood at about 1700 BC.<ref name="ictis">{{cite journal |author=de Beer |first=Gavin |date=June 1960 |title=Iktin |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=126 |issue=2 |pages=160–167 |doi=10.2307/1793956 |jstor=1793956}}</ref> A [[hoard]] of [[copper]] weapons, once thought to have been found on the mount, are now thought to have been found on nearby [[Marazion Marsh]]. Defensive stony banks on the north-eastern slopes are likely to date to the early 1st millennium BC, and are considered to be a [[Promontory fort|cliff castle]].<ref name=cas /> The mount is one of several candidates for the island of [[Ictis]], described as a [[Tin sources and trade in ancient times|tin trading]] centre in the ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' of the [[Greeks in Italy|Sicilian-Greek]] historian [[Diodorus Siculus]], writing in the first century BC.<ref name ="ictis" /><ref name="roman-britain">[http://roman-britain.co.uk/places/ictis.htm ICTIS INSVLA] at roman-britain.co.uk, accessed 7 February 2012.</ref>

==History==
[[File:England-Saint-Michaels-Mount-1900-1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|St Michael's Mount in 1900]] [[File:St Michael’s Mount, A. R. Quinton.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|St Michael's Mount (postcard c. 1920) by [[A. R. Quinton]]]]
St Michael's Mount may have been the site of a monastery from the 8th to the early 11th centuries. [[Edward the Confessor]] gave the site to the [[Benedictine]] order of [[Mont-Saint-Michel]].<ref name="Pevsner">{{cite book |author=Nikolaus Pevsner, Enid Radcliffe |title=Cornwall |year=1970 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780140710014 |pages=193–195 }}</ref><ref name="Blackford">{{cite book |author=Henderson |first=Charles |title=Cornish Church Guide |publisher=Oscar Blackford |year=1925 |location=Truro |pages=160–161}}</ref> In 967 AD [[Edgar, King of England|King Edgar]] granted to Wulfnoth Rumuncant land in the [[Charter of Lesneague and Pennarth]]. Lesneague, together with [[Traboe]], was later granted to the [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] monks of [[St Michael's Mount]] by [[Robert, Count of Mortain|Robert Count of Mortain]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Topography of The Parish of St. Keverne Cornwall |url=http://www.st-keverne.com/History/book/hendersons.php |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241216055811/http://www.st-keverne.com/History/book/hendersons.php |archive-date=2024-12-16 |access-date=2025-08-01 |website=www.st-keverne.com |language=en}}</ref> It was a [[priory]] of that Mont-Saint-Michel until the dissolution of the [[Alien priories|alien houses]] as a side-effect of the [[Hundred Years' War#Resumption of the war under Henry V: 1415–1429|war in France]] by [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]. Subsequently, it ceased to be a priory, but was reduced to being a secular chapel which was given to the Abbess and Convent of [[Syon Monastery|Syon]] at [[Isleworth]], [[Middlesex]], in 1424.<ref name="Fletcher">Fletcher, J. R. (Canon), Short History of Saint Michael's Mount, Published at St Michael's Mount, 1951.</ref> Thus ended its association with Mont-Saint-Michel,<ref name="Pevsner" /><ref>{{cite book|last=McCabe|first=Helen|title=Houses and Gardens of Cornwall|year=1988|publisher=Tabb House|location=Padstow|isbn=978-0907018582}}</ref> and any connection with [[Looe Island]] (dedicated to the [[Archangel Michael]]). It was a destination for [[pilgrimage|pilgrim]]s, whose devotions were encouraged by an [[indulgence]] granted by [[Pope Gregory VII]] in the 11th century.<ref name=EB1911/> The earliest buildings on the summit, including a castle, date to the 12th century.<ref name="cas" /><ref name=castlesfortsbattles/>

===Siege, occupation and ownership===
[[Feudal barony of Berry Pomeroy#Henry II de la Pomeroy (d.1201/7)|Sir Henry de la Pomeroy]] captured the Mount in 1193, on behalf of Prince [[John, King of England|John]], in the reign of [[Richard I of England|Richard I]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Carew |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA379 |title=Carew's Survey of Cornwall |publisher=T. Bensley |year=1811 |page=379}}</ref> the leader of the previous occupants having 'died of fright' upon learning rumours of Richard's release from captivity.<ref>{{cite book |author=Harvey |first=John |title=The Plantagenets |publisher=B. T. Batsford Limited |year=1948}}</ref> The [[Monastery|monastic building]]s were built during the 12th century. Various sources state that the [[1275 British earthquake|earthquake of 1275]] destroyed the original [[Priory]] church,<ref name="historic england">{{NHLE |desc=THE CHURCH OF SAINT MICHAEL, St. Michael's Mount |num=1310728 |access-date=6 August 2019 }}</ref> although this may be a misunderstanding of the term "St Michael's on the Mount" which referred to the church of St Michael atop [[Glastonbury Tor]].<ref name="musson 2008 37">{{cite journal |last1=Musson |first1=R. M. W. |date=2008 |title=The seismicity of the British Isles to 1600 |url=http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/historical/data/studies/MUSS008/MUSS008.pdf |journal=British Geological Survey |issue=Earth Hazards and Systems |page=37 |access-date=6 August 2019}}</ref> [[Syon Abbey]], a monastery of the [[Bridgettine Order]], acquired the Mount in 1424.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Harry |first1=Carlene |title=Morvah – which St Bridget? |url=http://www.penwithlocalhistorygroup.co.uk/the-penwith-papers/?id=3 |access-date=17 May 2018 |website=Penwith Local History Group}}</ref> Some 20 years later the Mount was granted by [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]] to [[King's College, Cambridge]] on its foundation.<ref name="kings">{{citation |title=St Buryan deanery and the Priory of St Michael's Mount |date=13 May 2014 |work=King’s College Estates Records |volume=KCAR/6/2/138 |url=http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/archive-centre/estates-records/counties/cornwall.html}}.</ref> However, when [[Edward IV]] took the throne during the [[Wars of the Roses]], the Mount was returned to the Syon Abbey in 1462.<ref name=kings /><ref>{{cite book|chapter=The colleges and halls: King's'|title=A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City and University of Cambridge|editor=J P C Roach|chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol3/pp376-408}}</ref>

[[John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford]], seized and held it during a siege of 23 weeks against 6,000 of Edward IV's troops in 1473–1474. [[Perkin Warbeck]], a [[pretender]] to the [[Kingdom of England|English throne]], occupied the Mount in 1497. Sir [[Humphrey Arundell]], Governor of St Michael's Mount, led the [[Prayer Book Rebellion]] of 1549. During the reign of [[Elizabeth I]], it was given to [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]], by whose son it was sold to Sir [[Francis Bassett]]. During the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], Sir Arthur Bassett, brother of Sir Francis, held the Mount against the Parliament until July 1646.<ref name=EB1911/>

The Mount was sold in 1659 to Colonel [[John St Aubyn (Parliamentarian)|John St Aubyn]].<ref name=EB1911/> {{as of|2024}}, his descendants, the [[Baron St Levan|Lords St Levan]], remain seated at St Michael's Mount.<ref name=LATM>{{cite web |title=Looking After the Mount |url=https://stmichaelsmount.co.uk/about-us/looking-after-the-mount/ |website=St Michael's Mount |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref>

===18th century===
Little is known about the village before the beginning of the 18th century, save that there were a few fishermen's cottages and monastic cottages. After improvements to the harbour in 1727, St Michael's Mount became a flourishing seaport.

The [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]] caused a [[tsunami]] to strike the [[Geography of Cornwall|Cornish coast]] over {{convert|1000|mi|km}} away. The sea rose {{Convert|6|ft|m|0|spell=in}} in 10 minutes at St Michael's Mount, ebbed at the same rate, and continued to rise and fall for five hours. The 19th-century French writer [[Tsunamis affecting the British Isles|Arnold Boscowitz]] claimed that "great loss of life and property occurred upon the coasts of Cornwall."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=8993 |title=Sources of Cornish History – The Lisbon Earthquake |date=12 September 2011 |publisher=Cornwall Council |access-date=16 September 2012 }}</ref>

===19th century===
[[File:Clarkson Stanfield - Mount St Michael, Cornwall - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''[[Mount St Michael, Cornwall]]'' by [[Clarkson Stanfield]], 1830]]
[[File:James Webb St Michael's Mount.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|An 1890s painting by [[James Webb (painter)|James Webb]]]]
By 1811, there were 53 houses and four streets. The pier was extended in 1821<ref>{{cite news|title=St Michael's Mount|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wbritonad/cornwall/Newmag-1812-32/1821-Vol-IIIJanDec.html|access-date=27 December 2012|newspaper=New Monthly Magazine|date=May 1821|page=259}}</ref> and the population peaked in the same year, when the island had 221 people. There were three schools, a [[Wesleyanism|Wesleyan chapel]], and three public houses, mostly used by visiting sailors. Following major improvements to nearby [[Penzance]] harbour, and the extension of the railway to Penzance in 1852, the village went into decline, and many of the houses and other buildings were demolished.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the structure of the castle was [[Romanticism#Architecture|romanticised]].<ref name=castlesfortsbattles>{{cite web |url=http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/south_west/st_michaels_mount.html |title=St Michael's Mount |publisher=CastlesFortsBattles.co.uk |access-date=23 July 2019}}</ref> In the late 19th century, the remains of an [[anchorite]] were discovered in a tomb within the domestic [[chapel]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Things to know before Applying for Payday Advance Online – Cornwall OPC|url=https://cornwall-opc.org/payday-advance-online/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510032728/https://cornwall-opc.org/payday-advance-online/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=10 May 2020|access-date=2020-06-13|language=en-US}}</ref>

{{Main|St Michael's Mount Tramway}}
A short, underground [[narrow gauge]] [[railway]] was constructed in about 1900. It was used to bring goods up to the castle and take away rubbish. In 2018, the tramway was reported as being "still in regular use, perhaps not every day",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sunders |first1=Charlie |editor1-last=Bennett |editor1-first=Paul |title=Drecky Express (Visit report) |journal=Narrow Gauge News |date=September 2018 |issue= 348 |publisher=Narrow Gauge Railway Society}}</ref> and is not open to the general public, although a small stretch is visible at the harbour. It is Britain's last functionally operational {{Track gauge|4ft6in|lk=on}} railway.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swehs.co.uk/swehs-trams/xx15i.html |title=St Michaels Mount, Cornish Cliff Railway |publisher=Hows Website |access-date=28 September 2016 |archive-date=5 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105010409/http://www.swehs.co.uk/swehs-trams/xx15i.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/stm.htm |title=St Michael's Mount Cliff Railway |publisher=South Western Historical Society |access-date=28 September 2016}}</ref>

Some sources, including in the [[British industrial narrow gauge railways#General freight|British industrial narrow gauge railways]], a [[List of track gauges#Narrow gauge|list of track gauges]] and, in 2018, on an information board near the line, suggest a different gauge of {{Track gauge|2ft5in|lk=on}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Dart |first=Maurice |title=Cornwall Narrow Gauge including the Camborne & Redruth tramway |year=2005 |publisher=Middleton Press |location=[[Midhurst]] |isbn=978-1-904474-56-2 }}</ref> while ''[[The Railway Magazine]]'' says it has a gauge of {{Track gauge|2ft5.5in|lk=on}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Semmens |first=Peter W. C. |date=July 1964 |editor1-last=Cooke |editor1-first=B. W. C. |title=St Michael's Mount Tramway |journal=[[The Railway Magazine]] |location=London, England |publisher=Tothill Press Limited |volume=110 |issue=759 |page=585 |issn=0033-8923}}</ref>

===Second World War===
The Mount was fortified in [[World War II]], during the [[British anti-invasion preparations of World War II|invasion crisis of 1940–1941]]. Three [[British hardened field defences of World War II|pillboxes]] can be seen to this day.<ref>{{cite book | last = Foot | first = William | title = Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940 | publisher = Council for British Archaeology | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-1-902771-53-3 | pages=88–93}}</ref> After the war, the decommissioned battleship {{HMS|Warspite|03|6}} was beached near the mount, and was scrapped in place after attempts to refloat the wreck failed.

Sixty-five years after the Second World War, it was suggested based on interviews with contemporaries that the former [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] Foreign Minister and one-time ambassador to London, [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]], had intended to live at the mount after the planned German conquest. Archived documents revealed that during his time in Britain in the 1930s, when he had proposed an alliance with Nazi Germany, von Ribbentrop frequently visited Cornwall.<ref>{{cite web |author=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |date=3 October 2010 |title=Nazi foreign minister planned to own Cornwall as his retirement home |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/03/nazi-foreign-minister-planned-cornwall-retirement |access-date=16 September 2012 |publisher=The Observer}}</ref>

===National Trust===
In 1954, Francis Cecil St Aubyn, 3rd [[Baron St Levan]], gave most of St Michael's Mount to the [[National Trust]], together with a large [[endowment fund]].<ref name=LATM /> The [[St Aubyn Baronets|St Aubyn family]] retained a 999-year lease to inhabit the castle and a licence to manage the public viewing of its historic rooms, managed in conjunction with the National Trust.<ref name=LATM />

==Priors and owners of St Michael's Mount==
{{div col}}
{{unbulleted list
|1250 [[Brother (Christian)|Frà]] [[Scrope|Richard le Scrope]]
|1262 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] [[House of Beaumont|Ralph de Vieilles]]
|1266 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] [[De Carteret family|Ralph de Carteret]]
|1275 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] Richard de Perrers, collated by Bishop [[Walter Branscombe]]
|1283 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] Geoffrey de Gernon
|1316 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] Peter de Carewe, Prior during Bishop [[John Grandisson]]'s [[Canonical visitation|visitation]] 
|1342 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] Nicholas d'Isabelle
|1349 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] John Hardy, until indictment at Launceston 1354
|1362 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] John de Voland
|1385 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] Richard de Harepath (his official prioral [[Seal (emblem)|brass seal]] survives)<ref>Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40/541; Year 1396; Richard II; [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT6/R2/CP40no541a/bCP40no541adorses/IMG_0693.htm www.uh.edu: Plaintiff]</ref> 
|1412 [[Dom (title)|Dom]] William Lambert, Prior 
|1537 [[Tetcott#Arscott of Tetcott|Richard Arscott]], [[Archpriest#Latin Catholicism|Archpriest]] 
|1539 Dissolution of [[Syon Monastery]]; St Michael's Mount reverted to the Crown
|1611 Royal grant of St Michael's Mount to [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury]]
|1640 Fee conveyed to [[William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury]] by Sir Francis Bassett; later sold to the [[St Aubyn baronets|St Aubyn family]].<ref>A short history of St Michael's Mount;Appendix B ; by the Rev. W. S. Lach-Szrma; 1878; https://archive.org/stream/ashorthistorype00lachgoog/ashorthistorype00lachgoog_djvu.txt</ref>
}}
{{div col end}}

==Preservation==
[[File:St Michael's Mount castle, from south east.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|South east side of the castle, facing offshore]]
The [[chapel]] of [[Michael (archangel)|St Michael]], a 15th-century building, has an [[battlement|embattled tower]], one angle of which is a small [[Turret (architecture)|turret]], which served for the guidance of ships.<ref name=EB1911/> The chapel is [[Diocese|extra-diocesan]] and continues to serve the [[Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)|Order of St John]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/whats-on/|title=Events}}</ref> by permission of [[Baron St Levan|Lord St Levan]]. Chapel Rock, on the beach, marks the site of a shrine dedicated to the [[Blessed Virgin Mary|Virgin Mary]], where pilgrims paused to worship before ascending the mount. Many antiquities, comprising plate armour, paintings and furniture, are preserved at the castle. Several houses are built on the hillside facing [[Marazion]],<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 | wstitle = St Michael's Mount|inline=1}}</ref> and a spring provides a natural flow of water. There is a row of eight houses at the back of the present village; built in 1885, they are known as Elizabeth Terrace. Some of the houses are occupied by staff working in the castle and elsewhere on the island. The mount's cemetery (currently no public access) contains the graves of former residents of the island and several drowned sailors. There are also buildings that were formerly the steward's house, a changing-room for bathers, the stables, the laundry, a barge house, a [[sail loft]] (now a restaurant), and two former inns. A former [[bowling green]] adjoins one of the buildings. The population of this parish in 2011 was 35.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/StMichaelsMount#Population|title=Parish population 2011|work=[[GENUKI]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010707084508/http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/StMichaelsMount/#Population|archive-date=7 July 2001|url-status=dead|access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref>

The harbour, enlarged in 1823 to accommodate vessels of up to 500 tonnes deadweight, has a [[pier]] dating back to the 15th century which has also been renovated. [[Queen Victoria]] disembarked from the [[royal yacht]] at St Michael's Mount in 1846, and a brass inlay of her footstep can be seen at the top of the landing stage. King [[Edward VII]]'s footstep is also visible near the bowling green. In 1967 [[Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother]] entered the harbour in a [[pinnace (ship's boat)|pinnace]] from the [[HMY Britannia|royal yacht ''Britannia'']].

The island [[British industrial narrow gauge railways|underground railway]] is used to transport goods from the harbour to the castle. It was built by miners around 1900, replacing the pack horses which had previously been used. Its steep gradient renders it unsafe for passenger use; thus the National Trust has made it out-of-bounds for public access.

The [[causeway]] between the mount and Marazion was improved in 1879 by raising it by {{convert|1|ft|cm|spell=in}} with sand and stones from the surrounding area.<ref>{{cite news|title=Marazion|work=The Cornishman|issue=61|date=11 September 1879|page=4}}</ref> Repairs were completed in March 2016 following damage from the 2014 winter storms.<ref>{{cite web|title=Causeway at St Michael's Mount restored|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-35876844|website=BBC News|access-date=26 March 2016|date=22 March 2016}}</ref> Some studies indicate that any rise in ocean waters as well as existing natural erosion would put some of the Cornwall coast at risk, including St Michael's Mount.<ref>{{cite web |author=Morris |first=Steven |date=13 October 2008 |title=South-west England's treasures in danger |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/oct/13/conservation |access-date=16 September 2012 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

===Local government===
[[File:St Michaels Mount.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|St Michael's Mount in 2005]]
Until recent times, both the mount and the town of Marazion formed part of the [[civil parish|parish]] of [[St Hilary, Cornwall|St Hilary]].<ref name="Blackford" /> St Michael's Mount forms its own [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] for local government purposes. Currently, this takes the form of a parish meeting as opposed to a parish council (that is, a yearly meeting of electors that does not elect councillors). [[Baron St Levan|Lord St Levan]] currently chairs the St Michael's Mount parish meeting.

==Geology==
The rock exposures around St Michael's Mount provide an opportunity to see many features of the [[geology of Cornwall]] in a single locality.<ref name=EX>{{cite web |url=http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/geomincentre/02MOUNTS%20BAY.pdf |title=Marazion to Porthleven (virtual geological field excursion) |publisher=[[University of Exeter]] |access-date=16 September 2012 }}</ref> The mount is made of the uppermost part of a [[granite]] intrusion into [[Metamorphic rock|metamorphosed]] [[Devonian]] [[mudstone]]s or [[pelite]]s. The granite is itself mineralised with a well-developed sheeted [[greisen]] [[Metasomatism|vein system]]. Due to its [[geology]], the island's seaward side has been designated a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]] since 1995.<ref name="sssi">{{cite web|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000121.pdf|title=St Michael's Mount|date=31 March 1995|publisher=Natural England|access-date=30 October 2014|archive-date=4 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215148/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000121.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Caton |first=Peter |title=No Boat Required – Exploring Tidal Islands |publisher=Troubador Publishing Limited |year=2011 |isbn=978-1848767-010}}</ref>

===Granites===
There are two types of [[granite]] visible on the mount. Most of the intrusion is a [[tourmaline]] [[muscovite]] granite which is variably [[porphyritic]].<ref name=EX /> This is separated from a [[biotite]] muscovite granite by [[pegmatite]]s.<ref name=EX />

===Devonian pelites===
Originally laid down as mudstones these [[pelite]]s were regionally metamorphosed and deformed (mainly [[Fold (geology)|folded]] here) by the [[Variscan orogeny]].<ref name=EX /> They were then affected by the [[intrusion]] of the granite, which caused further contact metamorphism, locally forming a [[hornfels]], and [[tin]] [[Mineralization (geology)|mineralisation]].<ref name=EX />

===Mineralisation===
The best developed mineralisation is found within the uppermost part of the granite itself in the form of sheeted greisen veins. These steep W-E trending veins are thought to have formed by [[hydraulic fracturing]],<ref name=EX /> when the fluid pressure at the top of the granite reached a critical level. The granite was fractured and the fluids altered the granite by replacing [[feldspar]]s with [[quartz]] and muscovite. The fluids were also rich in [[boron]], [[tin]] and [[tungsten]], and tourmaline, [[wolframite]] and [[cassiterite]] are common in the greisen veins. As the area cooled, the veins became open to fluids from the surrounding [[country rock (geology)|country rock]] and these deposited sulphides, e.g. [[chalcopyrite]] and [[stannite]]. Greisen veins are also locally developed within the pelites.{{Cn|date=July 2022}}

==Folklore==
In prehistoric times, St Michael's Mount may have been a port for the [[Tin mining in Britain|tin trade]], and [[Gavin de Beer]] made a case for it to be identified with the "tin port" [[Ictis|Ictis/Ictin]] mentioned by [[Posidonius]].<ref name="ictis" />

There are popular claims of a tradition that the Archangel [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]] appeared before local fishermen on the mount in the 5th century AD.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/Our-Island-Story/Timeline-of-The-Mount.aspx |title=Timeline of The Mount |publisher=St. Michael's Mount |access-date=16 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120184103/http://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/Our-Island-Story/Timeline-of-The-Mount.aspx |archive-date=20 January 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> But in fact this is a modern myth. The earliest appearance of it is in a version by [[John Mirk]], copying details of the medieval legend for Mont-Saint-Michel from the [[Golden Legend]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Johnson |first=Richard Freeman |url=https://archive.org/details/saintmichaelarch00john |title=Saint Michael the Archangel in medieval English legend |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-84383-128-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/saintmichaelarch00john/page/n80 68] |url-access=limited}}</ref> The folk-story was examined and found to be based on a 15th-century misunderstanding by Max Muller.

The chronicler [[John of Worcester]]<ref>Noted by de Beer 1960: 162f as "Florence of Worcester" in Thomas Forester's edition, London,England, 1854: 206.</ref> relates under the year 1099, that St Michael's Mount was located five or six miles (10&nbsp;km) from the sea, enclosed in a thick wood, but that on the third day of November the sea overflowed the land, destroying many towns and drowned many people as well as innumerable oxen and sheep; the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' records under the date 11 November 1099, "The sea-flood sprung up to such a height, and did so much harm, as no man remembered that it ever did before".<ref>{{Citation |last=Ingram |first=James (trans.) |title=The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |volume=180 |year=1823 |author-link=James Ingram (academic)}}.</ref> The Cornish legend of [[Lyonesse]], an ancient kingdom said to have extended from [[Penwith]] toward the [[Isles of Scilly]], also talks of land being inundated by the sea.

One of the earliest references to the mount (originally named "Dynsol" or "Dinsul"), was in the mid 11th century when it was "Sanctus Michael beside the sea".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Padel |first1=O. J. |title=The Cornish background of the Tristan Stories |journal=Cambridge Medieval Studies |volume=1 |pages=53–81}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Padel |first1=O. J. |title=Cornish Place-name Elements |date=1985 |publisher=English Place-names Society |volume=56/57}}</ref>

In the 1600s, [[John Milton]] used the Mount as the setting for the finale of what was once one of the most famous poems in English literature, his "[[Lycidas]]", which drew on the traditional sea-lore that had it that the archangel Michael sat in a great stone chair at the top of the Mount, seeing far over the sea and thus protecting England. In the mid-1850s the poem's scenes of the drowning of Lycidas, in the seas below the Mount, were illustrated in engravings and paintings by [[J. M. W. Turner]]. The poem drew together various traditions from the Bible, classical mythology and local folklore to offer an elegy for the pagan world that had faded away.{{Cn|date=July 2022}}

==Legend==
{{Main|Jack the Giant Killer}}
According to legend, the island was once home to a giant named [[Cormoran]], who lived on the Mount and stole livestock from local farmers.<ref name=Cormoran>{{cite web |title=Features: St Michael's Mount |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/articles/2007/04/04/gardens_stmichaelsmount_feature.shtml |website=[[BBC]] |access-date=4 June 2024 |date=24 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Giants of the Mount |url=https://www.cornwallheritagetrust.org/learn/resources/stories-and-rhymes/giants-of-the-mount/ |website=[[Cornwall Heritage Trust]] |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref> A reward was offered to stop Cormoran and a boy named Jack put himself forward, killing Cormoran by trapping him in a concealed pit and burying him there.<ref name=Cormoran /> When he returned home, the elders in the village gave him a hero's welcome, and henceforth, called him "[[Jack the Giant Killer]]".<ref name=Cormoran />

==In modern popular culture==
The mount has featured in a number of films, including the 1979 film ''[[Dracula (1979 film)|Dracula]]'', where it was prominently featured as the exterior of [[Castle Dracula]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Pykett |first=Derek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=atktMkuOvPwC&q=1979+dracula+st+michael%27s+mount |title=British Horror Film Locations |date=2008 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786451937 |page=41}}</ref> 

* It appeared in the 1983 [[James Bond]] film ''[[Never Say Never Again]]'', as two [[AGM-86 ALCM|air-launched cruise missiles]] armed with [[W80 (nuclear warhead)|nuclear warhead]]s fly over the English countryside and out to sea, passing directly over St Michael's Mount. 
* In the 2003 film ''[[Johnny English]],'' it was used as the exterior of the character [[Pascal Sauvage]]'s French château.
* In 2006 [[Simon Armitage]] published a poem "Causeway" in ''Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid'' dealing with a family visit to St Michael's Mount.
* In 2012 it was a [[filming location]] for the fantasy adventure film ''[[Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box]]''.
* In 2021 it was used for the ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' prequel series ''[[House of the Dragon]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Selcke |first1=Dan |title=House of the Dragon films at Driftmark, seat of House Velaryon |url=https://winteriscoming.net/2021/04/23/house-of-the-dragon-films-driftmark-seat-house-velaryon-game-of-thrones-prequel/ |website=Fansided |date=23 April 2021 |access-date=15 May 2021}}</ref>
* "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount" is the title of a song on the album ''[[Drukqs|drukQs]]'' by musician [[Aphex Twin]].<ref>{{cite web |date=25 October 2001 |title=Drukqs – Aphex Twin |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/225-drukqs/ |access-date=4 June 2024 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]}}</ref>
* It was one of the locations used for [[BBC One 'Balloon' idents|BBC One's "Balloon" idents]] which were used from Autumn 1998 to 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Balloon Above St. Michaels Mount – ident (1998) |url=https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/bbc-motion-graphics-archive/balloon-above-st-michaels-mount-ident-1998 |access-date=4 June 2024 |website=[[Ravensbourne University London]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=BBC One 1997 – 2002 Branding |url=https://tvark.org/branding/bbc/bbc1/bbc1-1997 |website=TVArk |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref>
* Under its Cornish name of Karrek Loos yn Koos, the island appears prominently in [[Giles Kristian]]'s 2018 historical fiction novel ''Lancelot''.{{Cn|date=July 2022}}
* St Michael's Mount is the setting for ''The Dead of Winter,'' a murder mystery written by [[Nicola Upson]] featuring the detectives Archie Penrose and Upson's fictionalized version of the author [[Josephine Tey]], published in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Dead of Winter |url=https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571353255-the-dead-of-winter/ |website=[[Faber & Faber]] |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref>
* St Michael's Mount, its castle and the causeway were the inspiration for the 5E roleplaying game adventure ''Until Death Do Us Part'' by Midnight Tower, published in 2025.

==Images==
<gallery widths=250 heights=200>
image:CASTLE3.jpg|Castle of St Michael 
image:StMichaelsMount.jpg|Causeway at low tide.
File:St Michaels Mount Fossick.jpg|Aerial View
Image:St Michael's Mount map 1946.png|Local map from 1946
File:StAubyn (Molesworth-StAubyn Baronets) Arms.PNG|St Aubyn family arms
File:MOUNT CASTLE3web.jpg|Detailed picture of St Michael's Mount castle.
File:Burgee of Mount’s Bay Sailing Club.svg|[[Burgee]] of Mount's Bay Sailing Club, Marazion, featuring a silhouette of the island.
File:Full Moon Rising Over St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall.jpg|Full moon rising directly above the castle
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity|Cornwall|England|Middle Ages}}
* [[Benedictines#United Kingdom|Benedictine Order in the United Kingdom]]
* [[Cormoran]]
* [[English Gothic architecture]]
* [[Key Monastery]]
* [[La Mère Poulard]]
* [[List of monastic houses in Cornwall]]
* [[Mont-Saint-Michel]], France
* [[Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey]]
* ''[[Mont Saint Michel and Chartres]]'' (1904) by [[Henry Adams]]
* [[Saint-Malo]]
* [[Saint Michael in the Catholic Church]]
* [[Skellig Michael]]
* [[St Aubyn baronets|St Aubyn family]]
* [[Saint Michael's line]]
* [[Tombolo]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*John Taylor, ''[https://www.academia.edu/26576329/Albion_the_earliest_history Albion: the earliest history]'' (Dublin, 2016)

==External links==
{{Commons category|St Michael's Mount|<BR>St Michael's Mount}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|St Michael's Mount}}
* {{official|https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/}}
* [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/st-michaels-mount St Michael's Mount information at the National Trust]
* [http://www.roman-britain.org/pliny.htm Pliny: Naturalis Historia (IV:XVI.102-4)]
* [http://crocat.cornwall.gov.uk/dserve/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqSearch=((text)='st%20michael-s%20mount') Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for St Michael's Mount]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194247/http://crocat.cornwall.gov.uk/dserve/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27st%20michael-s%20mount%27%29 |date=4 March 2016 }}
* {{NHLE |num=1143795 |ref=none}}
* [http://500px.com/photo/56591226 St Michaels Mount (photo by Chris Hasenbichler)]
* [https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2021/05/31/the-medieval-legend-of-the-appearance-of-st-michael-at-st-michaels-mount-in-cornwall-a-modern-myth/ The Medieval Legend of the Appearance of St Michael at St Michael's Mount in Cornwall: a Modern Myth] – Discussion of all the sources
* [https://tidal-island.netlify.app/island.html?id=st_michael Crossing times to St Michael's Mount]

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{{SSSIs Cornwall geological}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michaels Mount}}
[[Category:Civil parishes in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Castles in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Church of England church buildings in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Islands of Cornwall]]
[[Category:Gardens in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Grade I listed castles]]
[[Category:Military history of Cornwall]]
[[Category:Benedictine monasteries in England]]
[[Category:Monasteries in Cornwall]]
[[Category:National Trust properties in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Tidal islands of England]]
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1995]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Peaks dedicated to Michael (archangel)]]
[[Category:Grade II listed parks and gardens in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Country houses in Cornwall]]
[[Category:Grade I listed houses in Cornwall]]