The nave of the church has
still to undergo the process of restoration, for at the present time the
fraudulent character of its stone-vaulted roof is laid bare by the most
casual glance, for at the unfinished edge adjoining the choir one may see
the rough lath and plaster which for a long time must have deceived the
visitors who have gazed at the lofty roof. The western end of the building
is an eighteenth century work, although to glance at the great patches of
orange-coloured lichen that spread themselves over so much of the
stone-work, it would be easy to imagine that the work was of very great
antiquity. In earlier times there were some further bays belonging to the
nave beyond the present west front in the space now occupied by an open
platform. There is a fine view from this position, but it is better still
if one climbs the narrow staircase from the choir leading up to the
asphalted walk beneath the flying buttresses.
About the middle of the fourteenth century, Tiphaine de Raguenel, the wife
of Bertrand du Guesclin, that splendid Breton soldier, came from Pontorson
and made her home at Mont St Michel, in order not to be kept as a prisoner
by the English.
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