ST. Michael's mount. 227 



" near tlie Mount." They also gave the share which (as we have 

 just seen from Domesday) Blohiu (Bloic in MS.) held in the manor 

 of Treihul, and both the fairs on the Mount. Eobert, the son of the 

 grantors, joined in this grant, and William his other son promised 

 that, if Almodis left no direct heir and the land reverted to him, 

 he woTild confirm the grant. In consideration of this grant 

 Eobert, the Abbat, and his monks gave the Count £60 of the 

 money of Le Mans (ZX libra/rum cenomannensmm). 



The church of the time of Edward the Confessor, assuming 

 any was then built, must have fallen into decay or have proved 

 insufficient for its purpose. Perhaps there had been no new 

 church built here at aU since the days when the Mount was visited 

 by St. Keyne and St. Cadoc and other pilgrims drawn hither by 

 the sanctity of the place. At any rate the old buildings have, as 

 we should expect, disappeared, and the only very old part of the 

 edifice now standing is the wall, several feet thick, pierced by 

 the principal doorway of the mansion, and which competent 

 judges consider to be Saxon. The first written record of a 

 building here is contained in the Custumal of Otterton Priory,* 

 from which we learn that Bernard, the abbat of Mont St. 

 Michel, came to England and built the church here in 1135. 

 At his request, Eobert, bishop of Exeter, consecrated it 

 sometime between 1138 and 1154.f This church in time met 

 with ruin. On the 11th of September, 1275, between the 

 hours of one and three of the day there was an earthquake 

 throughout the kingdom, and its shock levelled the church 

 of St. Michael with the ground.^ But I am going before 

 my story. The Otterton Custumal recites that in honour of 

 Christ and his apostles Abbat Bernard had caused suitable 

 buildings to be erected and 13 monks to be established here, and 

 had provided for their maintenance. He ordained, however, that, 



* Printed by Oliver in the Monasticon. Otterton also formed part of the 

 possessions of the alien abbey of Mont St. Michel. 



t It was during the reign of Stephen, who died 1154. Eobert Chichester was 

 Bishop from 1138 to 1155. 



J Annales de Waverleia, Eolls series. "A.D. 1275, Item, III idus 

 Septembris, inter horam diei primam et tertiam, f actus est generalis terr^motus 

 per universam regionem, cujus impetu Ecclesia quce dicitur Sancti Michaelis de 

 Monte solo cecidit complanata." 



