St Michael's Mount

After the Norman Conquest, the abbey on St Michael's Mount was granted to the Benedictine order and the church on the island's summit was built by the French abbot in charge of the abbey. Miracles, said to have occurred here in the 1260s, increased the island's religious attraction to pilgrims. The Mount was besieged in 1473 during the War of the Roses, in 1588 it was the place where the first beacon was lit to warn of the arrival of the Spanish Armada, and in the Civil War it was a Royalist stronghold attacked by Cromwell's forces. Today it is the home of the St Aubyn family who have lived here since the 17th century and 30 island residents and families. The island is separated from the mainland by a causeway which is covered by the sea at high tide.