SAINT MICHAEL'S MOUNT

granite island about 400 yards (365 metres) offshore in Mount's Bay on the English Channel, in the western part of the county of Cornwall, England. At low tide only, a natural causeway links the island to the nearby community of Marazion. Administratively, the island is a parish within Penwith district in the administrative and historic county of Cornwall. Edward the Confessor (reigned 104266) gave the island to Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, of which abbey it remained a priory until Henry V's reign (141322), after which it had various owners. It came into the English crown's possession at the Reformation. In 1659 it was sold to Colonel John St. Aubyn, and his descendant Lord St. Levan maintained a residence in the castle more than 300 years later, although the National Trust now takes most responsibility for the property's upkeep. In the 12th century the monastery on the island was rebuilt by Bernard, the abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel. Of these monastic buildings the refectory is the chief survival. The Chapel of St. Michael dates from the 15th century. Pop. (1981) 26.