Sepia (albumen print)

Acc.no: PEZPH : 2016.50.388

Identification

Item: Cemetery entrance gatehouse, St Michael's Mount

Description: A photograph of the Cemetery gatehouse to the walled Cemetery. The granite ashlar cemetery walls were rebuilt in the late 19th century, probably in 1877 when the attached gateway to the Mount was built; at the same time, the graveyard plan was slightly altered with an 'L' shaped range of buildings in the north-east corner being demolished to allow an extension of the burial-ground. There was also a slight extension to the south-east, as the angle here was altered. The cemetery was extended by about 8 metres to the east between 1843 and 1876. The earliest dated headstone is dated 1749 although one dated 1618 was found in themed 19th century. There are suggestions that the whole mount was consecrated ground, that bones were dug up all over the island before the cemetery existed, and that before Marazion had a cemetery in 1839, people from St Hilary down were buried here too. The Gothic lychgate was built in 1839 as a memorial to Sir Edward St Aubyn, baronet and his wife Emma, by their 7 children and there is an inscription on the inner NE wall. It has a corbelled granite roof with gable ends over double-chamfered, two-centred arches and has a central cross, incised coffin rest with benches along its inside walls. The floor is of squares of cut slate on edge and there are wheel-headed crosses on both gables. In 1933, a bronze figure of St Michael was placed in an arched niche over the northern doorway. Source: St Michael's Mount, the National Trust report by Peter Herring, 1993.

Condition: Good

Description

Material: Photographic paper

Production

Method: Printed

Category: Photography

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