13 – Out of Town

And going up ...

Catching up with the tour party, we had left the (now) commercial part of the town and had started past the stone houses and buildings on the way to the great outer staircase leading to the abbey.  The stonework in the buildings is decidedly the output of artisan masons, for it is amazing how regularly cut the stones appear to be, and the arched decorative motifs provide relief to the otherwise solid façades.  The window frames I noticed are mainly steel, indicating probably fairly recent replacement. An occasional half timbered house front can still be seen, I was told these are surviving remainders of the earlier and more original island houses, but could not find out what lies beyond their walls nowadays.

It is evident from both the weathering and construction techniques used that the walls of the ramparts of the mount predate the stonework of the buildings. These rampart walls are largely part of the fifteenth century defence system built around the town, supported by and incorporating the many towers and watchtowers such as the one we saw here earlier on our walk. Embrasures and arrow loops give way to wider openings allowing for the use of heavier artillery and cannons in defence – for it was now not just uprisings amongst the local population that Mont Saint Michel needed to defend itself against. Repeated attempts at invasion by the British starting in the fourteenth century demanded increasing the strength of fortifications, as did the later wars of religion when Protestants would attack this Catholic stronghold.

And looming ever present, visible from every angle is the Marvel – the Church and Abbey of St Michel. 

The climb continued.