| Located on an island in Mount's Bay along the
southern coast of Cornwall, St Michael's Mount is a castle built
on sharp peaked hill. It is so named after the angel Michael
appeared at this site in the fifth century. It has been the home
to Benedictine monks under Edward the Confessor, to Saint Keyne
of Ireland, and, likely, to earlier native religious cults who
may have worshipped the sun on the mount.
The
Mount is connected by a land bridge to the mainland during low
tide; it is a true island at high tide.
The
island/peninsula was most certainly a trading place for tin
since ancient times. It is a viable candidate for the famous
trading island called Itkin
by the Phoenicians who traded tin with the native Britons before
the common era. The island could have held the valuable tin
offshore allowing the strangers to trade without actually
setting foot on the mainland.
According
to the folk tale, Jack the Giant Killer slew the Cornish Giant
Cormoran after tricking him to fall into a pit on this island.
The greenstone on the island is supposed to have been brought
there by the Giantess Cormelian, wife of the Giant Cormoran, in
her apron. Cormoran, building the mount of granite, saw that she
had brought the wrong rock, and killed her. Cormelian dropped
the stones as she fell dead and is said to be buried under the
pile of greenstone still found today.
A
sister location, Mont St Michel is located
across the English Channel along the northern coast of Normandy.
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