St Michael's Mount
Cornwall's fairytale island has a giant's heart set into its path, a marriage-ruling stone chair on the tower, and a family who've lived there since 1659.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Mount's Bay, just off Marazion, Cornwall
- Type
- Tidal island with a castle, church, harbour and gardens
- Height
- Roughly 70 metres (230 ft) at the summit
- Causeway
- A cobbled granite path of about a quarter of a mile, walkable at low tide
- Monastic origins
- Linked to Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy from the 11th century
- Family home
- The St Aubyn family since 1659
- National Trust
- Given to the Trust in 1954, with the family keeping a lease to live there
- Legend
- Built by the giant Cormoran, killed by Jack the Giant Killer
The giant who left his heart on the path
Walk up the steep cobbled path to the castle and look down. Among the stones is one shaped like a heart. Locals call it the giant's heart, and it belongs to Cormoran. According to Cornish legend, Cormoran built the Mount himself, hauling white granite stones from the mainland and wading across the bay to do it. He kept a nasty habit of raiding farms for cattle and sheep. A local boy named Jack took matters into his own hands. While Cormoran slept, Jack dug a deep pit on the hillside, then blew a horn to wake him. The furious giant charged down in the dark, tumbled into the pit and that was that. Jack became Jack the Giant Killer, and the heart-shaped stone is said to mark the spot.
A Cornish sister to Mont-Saint-Michel
Squint at St Michael's Mount and you may think of Normandy, and with good reason. The two islands share a name, a patron saint and a conical outline topped with a religious building. In the 11th century the Mount was given to the Benedictine monks of Mont-Saint-Michel, and a priory grew on the summit. The monks also looked after pilgrims who came in search of St Michael, the archangel said to have appeared to fishermen on the rock in an ancient legend. The church on the summit still stands, with its tower and the castle buildings grouped around it. It is a rare place where a medieval monastery has slowly become a house.
Pilgrims, rebels and sieges
A rock this defensible was never going to stay peaceful. In 1473 John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a Lancastrian on the run after the defeat at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, during the Wars of the Roses, took the Mount by a ruse, with his men posing as pilgrims. He then held it against a long Yorkist siege. The Mount also saw action in the Civil War. Royalists garrisoned it, and it fell to Parliament in 1646. That military past explains the castle's mix of monastery, fortress and home. Look out for the battery of cannon along the walls, a reminder that this was a place built to face the sea.
The family at the top of the rock
In 1659 Colonel John St Aubyn bought the Mount, and his family have been here ever since. Over the centuries they turned a fortified priory into a comfortable house, adding rooms and a grand drawing room in the Gothic style. In 1954 the 3rd Baron St Levan gave the island to the National Trust, with the family keeping a lease so they could continue to live in the castle. It is still home to the family and to a small island community, with cottages near the harbour. The building has a mix of medieval, Georgian and Victorian features, so the rooms jump between centuries as you walk through them.
Sit in the chair, if you dare
High on the church tower sits a small stone lantern known as St Michael's Chair. Tradition says that whichever partner in a marriage sits in it first will rule the household for good. Brave couples have been known to race each other up the tower to find out. On the way up, keep an eye out for the terraced gardens clinging to the granite slopes. Shelter from the sea and the mild Cornish climate let exotic plants thrive, so this rocky outcrop is also a sheltered garden. The views are worth the climb: the whole sweep of Mount's Bay, with Penzance and the Lizard peninsula on the horizon.
Crossing between tides
The main way to reach the Mount is on foot. At low tide a cobbled causeway runs across the sand from Marazion, and you can walk to the island with the bay on either side. When the tide comes in, the path vanishes and small boats ferry visitors across. That daily rhythm is part of the island's charm. Check the tide times before you go, and allow time to explore the harbour, church and castle before the sea closes the road again. For the best photo, stand on Marazion beach at dusk when the castle glows against the sky.
Notable people
- Cormoran
- Jack the Giant Killer
- John de Vere, Earl of Oxford
- Colonel John St Aubyn
- Lord St Levan
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