“Let me show you to your table.” Such simple words did not prepare me for the uninterrupted panorama that is Mounts Bay and St. Michael’s Mount!
The day was dull and grey. Torrential rain had followed us to Marazion (the origin of the town’s name is believed to be derived from the old Cornish Marghaisewe, meaning Thursday market), almost drowned us as we ran from the car park to the Godolphin Arms where we were to eat lunch, and then evolved into a drizzly mist that soaked into every bone in our bodies. It was summer of 2017 and July was particularly wet compared to the arid heat of 2018. My husband and I had recently returned home to Cornwall and were spending a phenomenal day with family.
We witnessed very little foot traffic across the causeway on that wet Tuesday afternoon, no doubt due to the rain because it was, after all, prime tourist season. I have visited Marazion and the Mount on various occasions throughout my life as my family origins are strong in that area, but looking out onto the heavy wet sand and the glistening causeway I started to wonder about the ancient history and folklore of the Mount and its fascinating castle that has morphed from ‘priory to fort, iconic castle to family home.’
Below are snippets of history that have caught my eye, and their online source. Enjoy!
It was during the English Civil War that Parliamentarian, Colonel John St Aubyn, was appointed Captain of the fort at St Michael’s Mount in 1647. Prior to the war the fort had been in use as a priory. Twelve years later Colonel St. Aubyn bought the Mount from the Bassett family.
St Michael’s Mount remained a subsidiary home of the St. Aubyn family for the next two hundred years until the third baronet retired there. His rebuilding of the harbour led to a revival of the island as a trading centre until superseded by the development of the Penzance harbour.
St. Michael’s Mount is also mentioned by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps in his “Rambles in Western Cornwall by the footsteps of the giants; with notes on the Celtic remains of the Land’s End District and the Islands of Scilly”
“Long after the Britons had settled in Cornwall, they (Giants) were the terror of the country, living in castles on hills or cliffs, or in large caves, and stealing the cattle of the farmers by wholesale. One of these, named Cormelian, or, as some have it, Cormoran, inhabited St. Michael’s Mount, where his well, or rather cistern, excavated in the rock, is still shown as the Giant’s Well. This monster, as the veriest tyro in English history well knows, was killed by a stratagem invented by a clever youth who was afterwards distinguished as Jack the Giant Killer.”
Another local legend tells that Cormoran is attributed with constructing St. Michael’s Mount. According to the folklore, he carried white granite from the mainland at low tide to build the island. In some versions, the giant’s wife, Cormelian, assisted by carrying stones in her apron. According to one version, when Cormoran fell asleep from exhaustion, his more industrious wife fetched greenstone from a nearer source, shunning the less accessible granite. When she was halfway back, Cormoran awoke to discover her bringing different stones than he wanted, and kicked her. The stones fell from her apron and formed Chapel Rock.
Cormoran is often associated with the giant of Trencrom in local folklore. The two are said to have thrown boulders back and forth as recreation; this is given as the explanation for the many loose boulders found throughout the area. In one version, the Trencrom giant threw an enormous hammer over for Cormoran, but accidentally hit and killed Cormelian; they buried her at Chapel Rock.
It has been said that fishermen have seen the remains of a forest at low tide in Mount’s Bay and St.Ives Community TV reports “Evidence of an ancient forest has been uncovered on the beach near St Michael’s Mount after recent storms scoured away sand.
These tree stumps on the beach were revealed by the action of the waves. St Michaels Mount in Cornwall was once known as ‘Karrek Loos yn Koos’ which translates as ‘Grey Rock in the Wood’, with John of Worcester, writing in 1099, that St Michael’s Mount was located five or six miles from the sea, enclosed in a thick wood.”
Source
- www.stivestv.co.uk/all-st-ives-tv-videos/st-michaels-mount-ancient-forest/
- https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/explore-the-mount/castle
- https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/marazion
- https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/explore-the-mount/st-aubyn-family-history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormoran
Don’t forget to check out this informative site to plan your next visit! https://www.whentobewhere.com/travel-listing/st-michaels-mount-cornwall
