St Michael's Mount

St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount is located in Cornwall
St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount
Location within Cornwall
Area0.09 sq mi (0.23 km2)
OS grid referenceSW514298
• London290 miles (467 km)
Civil parish
  • St Michael's Mount
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMARAZION
Postcode districtTR17
Dialling code01736
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
Websitewww.stmichaelsmount.co.uk
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated9 October 1987
Reference no.1143795
Designated11 June 1987
Reference no.1000654
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall
50°06′58″N 5°28′38″W / 50.1160°N 5.4772°W / 50.1160; -5.4772

St Michael's Mount (Cornish: Karrek Loos yn Koos,[1] meaning "hoar rock in woodland")[2] is a tidal island in Mount's Bay near Penzance, Cornwall, England (United Kingdom). The island is a civil parish and is linked to the town of Marazion by a causeway of granite 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 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.[3]

St Michael's Mount is one of 43 unbridged tidal islands accessible by foot from mainland 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 5 metres (16 ft) between low and high tide.[4]

  1. ^ Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) Main variant Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Cornish Language Partnership.
  2. ^ O.J.Padel. Cornish Place Names. p. 122.
  3. ^ Henderson, Charles (1925). Cornish Church Guide. Truro: Oscar Blackford. pp. 160–61.
  4. ^ "Cornwall tides".