Sally Kindberg’s Museum of Dust – Pilgrims Steps at St Michaels Mount

In ancient times pilgrims heading to join the Santiago de Compostela route would make their way to St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall before they set sail to France, then continued their pilgrimage on foot. Those travelling by boat from Ireland, rather than risk shipwreck sailing round the rocky Cornish coast, would have walked overland from Lelant to Marazion, crossing the Penwith peninsula from north to south, climbing steep Trencrom Hill en route. From this hill, once an Iron Age hill fort, travellers can gaze at the Atlantic on one side and the Channel on the other. This beautiful and magical route – I fell asleep briefly on a bed of furze on Trencrom Hill when I walked it one very hot summer – is now designated and signposted St Michaels Way.

If the tide is out at Marazion, you can walk across a stone causeway to the Mount. If it’s in, take a small ferry. The interior of the castle is filled with what looks like items from someone’s old attic, included a mummified cat.

One of the best things about my recent visit, apart from the delightful (if pricey) ferry ride, was entering the calm atmosphere of the empty chapel. Religious chanting from behind a locked door turned out not to be from a monkish gathering but from a discreetly concealed CD.

Pilgrims would have walked up the steep hill of the Mount using stone steps leading o what was once a Priory, home to Benedictine Monks. Now it belongs to the National Trust, and it’s difficult to detect any of the religious mystery which attracted pilgrims here, although the steps are so worn and steep one feels they must have been powered by strong belief as well as sturdy legs to reach the chapel above.

A more recent visitor was Queen Victoria in 1846, travelling here on her boat The Fairy. You can see a brass memorial plaque of her delicate, narrow footstep on the quay. There’s no record of her climbing up the hill.

 

 

 

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One Response to Sally Kindberg’s Museum of Dust – Pilgrims Steps at St Michaels Mount

  1. Pingback: Introduction to Sally Kindberg’s Museum of Dust | Sally Kindberg's Blog

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