CORNWALL early as this there was a religious cell here; but the earliest chapel of which we can be certain is that endowed by Edward the Con- fessor, and granted to the Benedictine house of the Norman St. Michel. The similarity in name and position of the two foundations caused some early historians to conftise them. The grant of the Conffessor was confirmed by Robert de Mortain at the Conquest. But the Mount was not only chapel and monastery, it was a fortress. Henry de Pomeroi held it for John in the time of Richard L After the Yorkist victory at Barnet, some Lancastrian fugitives, the Earl of Oxford and others, gained admittance to the Mount disguised as pilgrims, and then held it against all comers. Sir John Arundell, county sheriff, was killed in attempting to take them ; and they resisted until a pardon was granted them. A later Arundell, governor of the castle, himself proved rebel in 1 549, when he and many other Cornishmen revolted in the Catholic interest ; and during the Civil War the Mount again found itself the centre of violent conflict. Sir Francis Basset held it for the king, but surrendered to Colonel Hammond after a gallant defence, and was allowed to retreat to Scilly. From the Bassets the Mount passed to the St. Aubyns, being still the seat of that family (Lord Levan). In 1846 the late Queen and Prince Consort landed here, and a brass footprint shows where her Majesty placed her foot. The rock rises to a height of 230 ft. ; at low 186
