Sark

Sark
Bailiwick of Guernsey
La Coupée, Sark
Location
Area:	1,274 acres
Highest point:	Le Moulin, 374 feet
Data

The Flag of Sark

Sark is a small island of 1,274 acres belonging to the Bailiwick of Guernsey, amongst the Channel Islands. It lies 8 miles from Guernsey and 20 miles from the French coast.

Sark is a royal fief with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament, the Chief Pleas. Thus while it remains a part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and sends representatives to the States of Guernsey, it is autonomous in most matters, under its own Seigneur and legislature and has an independent relationship with the Crown through the Lieutenant Governor in Guernsey. Formally, the Seigneur holds the island as a fief from the Crown, re-enfeoffing the landowners on the island with their respective parcels.

The island has a population of about 600 and its economy depends primarily on tourism. In former days, perhaps less so today, the island was known for a tax avoidance system nicknamed a "Sark lark", taking advantage of the lack of taxation or detailed company law on the island, and in its heyday, there were more companies registered in Sark than there were people.

In the Norman-French of the island, which yet survives amongst some of the older generation, island is known as Sèr or Cerq, and in standard French as Sercq.

Geography and geology

La Coupée

Sark and Brecqhou from the air

Sark consists of two main parts, Greater Sark, located at about 49° 25' N x 2° 22' W, and Little Sark to the south. They are connected by a narrow isthmus called La Coupée which is 300 feet long and has a drop of 330 feet on each side. Protective railings were erected only in 1900; before then, children would crawl across on their hands and knees to avoid being blown over the edge. There is a narrow concrete road covering the entirety of the isthmus, built in 1945 by German prisoners of war under the direction of the Royal Engineers.

Due to isolation, the inhabitants of Little Sark had their own distinct form of Sercquiais, the native Norman dialect of the island.

The "Le Moulin" windmill, c. 1905

The highest point on Sark is 374 feet above sea-level, which is the highest point in the whole Bailiwick. It is named Le Moulin after the windmill here, built in 1571. The sails of the windmill were removed during First World War.

Little Sark had a number of mines accessing a source of galena. At Port Gorey, the ruins of silver mines may be seen. The mines were the downfall of the original family of Seigneurs; to finance them the Seigneur mortgaged his estates and title and lost all to his creditor.

Off the south end of Little Sark are the Venus Pool and the Adonis Pool, both natural swimming pools whose waters are refreshed at high tide.

The whole island is extensively penetrated at sea level by natural cave formations that provide unique habitats for many marine creatures, notably sea anemones, some of which are only safely accessible at low tide. Sea Ravens are very common in Sark.

Sark is made up mainly of the rocks amphibolite and granite gneisses, intruded by igneous magma sheets called quartz diorite. Recent (1990–2000) geological studies and rock age dating by geologists from Oxford Brookes University shows that the gneisses probably formed around 620-600 million years ago during the Late Precambrian-age Cadomian Orogeny. The quartz diorite sheets were intruded during this Cadomian deformation and metamorphic event. All the Sark rocks (and nearby Channel Islands of Guernsey & Alderney) formed during geological activity in continental crust above an ancient subduction zone. This geological setting would have been analogous to the modern day subduction zone of the Pacific ocean plate colliding and subducting beneath the North and South American continental plate.

Brecqhou

Main article: Brecqhou

Sark also exercises jurisdiction over the island of Brecqhou, only a few hundred feet west of Greater Sark. It is a private island that is not open to visitors. Since 1993 Brecqhou has been owned by David Barclay, one of the Barclay brothers, co-owners of The Daily Telegraph. They have unsuccessfully contested Sark's control over the island.

Sercquiais

Sercquiais (Sarkese) is a dialect of the Norman language still spoken by older inhabitants of the island. Its use has declined in recent years due to a large influx of people who have moved to Sark.

History

A horse-drawn carriage on Sark

Sark in relation to the other islands of the Bailiwick

After the collapse of the Roman Empire and before the middle of the tenth century Sark's fate is unknown. After 933 it became a part of the Duchy of Normandy which became united with the Crown of England after 1066.

In 1204, King John lost mainland Normandy to France, but the Channel Isles remained loyal to him. In the thirteenth century, Sark was used as a base of operations by the French pirate, Eustace the Monk, after he served King John of England.

Although populated by monastic communities in the mediæval period, Sark was uninhabited in the 16th century and used as a refuge and raiding base by Channel pirates. Helier de Carteret, Seigneur of St Ouen in Jersey, received Letters Patent from Queen Elizabeth I granting him Sark in fief in perpetuity on condition that he maintained the island free of pirates and occupied by at least 40 men who were the Queen's subjects, which he duly did, bringing with him 40 families mostly from St Ouen.

An attempt by the newly settled families to endow themselves with a charter under a bailiff, as in Jersey, was put down by the authorities of Guernsey who resented any attempt to wrest Sark from their bailiwick.

In 1844, desperate for funds to continue the operation of the silver mine on the island, the incumbent Seigneur, Ernest le Pelley, obtained crown permission to mortgage the Fief of Sark to local privateer John Allaire; but the mine company went bankrupt, and he was unable to keep up the mortgage payments. In 1849, Le Pelly's son, Pierre Carey le Pelley, the new Seigneur, was forced to sell the seigneurie of Sark to Marie Collings, daughter and heiress of Allaire, for £6,000.

During Second World War, the island was occupied by German forces from 1940–1945, as were the other Channel Islands. The Island Kommandant of Guernsey, Major Albrecht Lanz, arrived at Creux Harbour by boat on 3 July 1940 with his interpreter and chief of staff Major Maas and they met the Dame and Seigneur at the Seigneurie to announce the start of German military rule. The next day German troops arrived to occupy the island. In early October 1942, Sark was the site of a British raid called Operation Basalt.

Recent history

In August 1990, an unemployed French nuclear physicist named André Gardes attempted a singlehanded invasion of Sark, armed with a semi-automatic weapon. The night Gardes arrived, he put up signs declaring his intention to take over the island the following day at noon. He was arrested while sitting on a bench, changing the gun's magazine and waiting for noon to arrive, by the island's volunteer constable.

In 2008, Sark broke into international news when it dismantled its previous system of government, which had evolved gradually from its original system established in 1565, to turn the Chief Pleas into a democratically elected legislature. Change was influenced by the Barclay brothers, the owners of Brecqhou, on the premise that this was necessary to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. The first elections under the new law were held in December 2008 and the new chamber first convened in January 2009.

Government

The Arms of Sark

Seigneur

John Michael Beaumont is the current and twenty-second Seigneur of Sark, inheriting the position in 1974. The office of Seigneur is a fief from the Crown. It is hereditary and with permission of the Queen it may also be sold.

The Seigneur of Sark was, until to the constitutional reforms of 2008, the head of the feudal government of the Isle of Sark (in the case of a woman, the title was Dame) and though executive functions have now passed to the Chief Pleas, the Seigneur is still responsible for appointing the Senechal and the island's other chief officers. He sits in the Chief Pleas (though without a vote) and has a suspensive veto over any of its proceedings.

Many of the laws, particularly those related to inheritance and the rule of the Seigneur, had changed little since they were enacted in 1565 under Queen Elizabeth I. The Seigneur has enjoyed a number of privileges; he retains, for example, the sole right on the island to keep pigeons, a law intended to prevent the island from becoming infested with pigeons, though the Seigneurie has a fine dovecote, where pigeons were bred for the kitchen.

The Seigneur's of Sark have been:

1. Hellier de Carteret (1563–1578)
2. Philippe de Carteret I (1578–1594)
3. Philippe de Carteret II (1594–1643)
4. Philippe de Carteret III (1643–1663)
5. Philippe de Carteret IV (1663–1693)
6. Charles de Carteret (1693–1715)
7. John Carteret (1715–1720)
8. John Johnson (1720–1723)
9. James Milner (1723–1730)
10. Susanne le Pelley (1730–1733)
11. Nicolas le Pelley (1733–1742)
12. Daniel le Pelley (1742–1752)
13. Pierre le Pelley I (1752–1778)
14. Pierre le Pelley II (1778–1820)
15. Pierre le Pelley III (1820–1839)
16. Ernest le Pelley (1839–1849)
17. Pierre Carey le Pelley (1849–1852)
18. Marie Collings (1852–1853)
19. William Thomas Collings (1853–1882)
20. William Frederick Collings (1882–1927)
21. Sibyl Mary Hathaway (1927–1974), with Robert Hathaway (1929–1954)
22. John Michael Beaumont (1974–present)

Chief Pleas

Under the old system, the Chief Pleas, Sark's parliament, consisted of a 54-member chamber consisting of the Seigneur, the Seneschal, 40 tenant members sitting by right of their landholdings, and 12 deputies. In 2008 this was swept away and the Chief Pleas was henceforth to be a 30-member chamber, with 28 members elected in island-wide elections, joined by the Seigneur and the Senechal, the latter appointed for life by the Seigneur.

The old system was ended by the Barclay brothers, owners of Breqhou, after they had failed to assert their island's independence of Sark and, more to the point, the payment of a triezieme tax on the purchase price: the constitution was described as feudal, and ultimately the Privy Council ruled it a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Seneschal

On Sark the Seneschal is the head of the Chief Pleas. Since 1675, he has also been the judge of the island (between 1583 and 1675, judicial functions were exercised by 5 elected Jurats and a Juge). The Seneschal is appointed by the Seigneur. Recently the Chief Pleas decided to split the dual role of the Seneshal following the decision of the English Court of Appeal.

The complete list of all the Seneschal of Sark from 1675 is as follows:

1. Pierre Gibault (15/7/1675-1680)
2. Thomas de Beauvoir (1680–1683)
3. Phillipe Dumeresq (1683–1702)
4. Jean Payne (1702–1707)
5. Philippe de Carteret (1707–1744)
6. Henri de Carteret (1744–1752)
7. Phillipe le Masurier (1752–1777)
8. Henri le Masurier (1777–1785)
9. Amice le Couteur (1785–1808)
10. Jean le Couteur (1808–1812)
11. Jean Falle (1812–1830)
12. Elie le Masurier (1830–1841)
13. Philippe Guille (1841–1851)
14. Thomas Godfray (1851–1876)
15. William de Carteret (1876–1881)
16. Abraham Baker (1881–1891)
17. Thomas Godfray (1891–1920)
18. Kenneth Campbell (1920–1922)
19. Ashby Taylor (1922–1925)
20. Frederick de Carteret (1925–1937)
21. William Carré (1937–1945)
22. William Baker (1945–1969)
23. Bernard Jones (1969–1979)
24. Hilary Carré (1979–1985)
25. Lawrence Philip de Carteret (1985–2000)
26. Reginald J. Guille (2000–present)

Tenants

The Seigneurie

Pursuant to the royal letters patent, the Seigneur was to keep the island inhabited by at least 40 armed men. Therefore, from his lands, 39 parcels, each sufficient for one family, were subdivided and granted to settlers, the Tenants. Later, some of these parcels were dismembered, and parts of the Seigneurial land were sold, creating more parcels.

Originally each head of a parcel-holding family had the right to vote in Chief Pleas, but in 1604 this right was restricted to the 39 original tenements required by the Letters Patent, the so-called Quarantaine Tenements (quarantaine being French for a group of forty). The newer parcels mostly did not have the obligation to bear arms. In 1611 the dismemberment of tenements was forbidden, but the order was not immediately followed.

In Sark, the word tenant is used (and often pronounced as in French) in the sense of feudal landholder rather than the common English meaning of lessee. Originally, the word referred to any landowner, but today it is mostly used for a holder of one of the Quarantaine Tenements.

Clameur de Haro

Among the old laws of the Channel Islands is the old Norman custom of the Clameur de Haro. Using this legal device, a person can obtain immediate cessation of any action he considers to be an infringement of his rights. At the scene, he must, in front of witnesses, recite the Lord's Prayer in French and cry out "Haro, Haro, Haro! À mon aide mon Prince, on me fait tort!" ("Haro, Haro, Haro! To my aid, my Prince! I am being wronged!"). It should then be registered with the Greffe Office within 24 hours. All actions against the person must then cease until the matter is heard by the Court. The last Clameur recorded on Sark was raised in June 1970 to prevent the construction of a garden wall.

Transport

Tractor-drawn emergency ambulance

Small ferries sail from Sark to St Peter Port, Guernsey; a 9-mile, 45-minute voyage. A high-speed passenger ferry is operated in summer by a foreign company to Jersey.

The island is a car-free zone where the only vehicles allowed are horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles, tractors, and battery-powered buggies or motorised bicycles for elderly or disabled people. Passengers and goods arriving by ferry from Guernsey are transported from the wharf by tractor-pulled vehicles. To the dismay of residents, large tractors, which produce even more noise and dust than cars of the same size, have proliferated in recent years.

There is no airport on Sark, and flight over Sark below 2400 ft is prohibited by the Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Guernsey) Regulations 1985 (Guernsey 1985/21). The closest airports are Guernsey Airport and Jersey Airport. Sark lies directly in line of approach to the runway of Guernsey airport, however.

Churches

St Peter Church

In common with the other Channel Islands, Sark is attached to the Diocese of Winchester.

• Church of England: St Peter's (built 1820)
• Methodist: Sark Methodist Church

John Wesley first proposed a mission to Sark in 1787. Jean de Quetteville of Jersey subsequently began preaching there, initially in a cottage at Le Clos à Geon and then at various houses around Sark. Preachers from Guernsey visited regularly, and in 1796, land was donated by Jean Vaudin, leader of the Methodist community in Sark, for the construction of a chapel, which Jean de Quetteville dedicated in 1797.

In the mid-1800s there was a small Plymouth Brethren assembly. Its most notable member was the classicist William Kelly (1821–1906). Kelly was then the tutor to the Seigneur's children.

Supported by the evidence of the names of the tenements of La Moinerie and La Moinerie de Haut, it is believed that the Seigneurie was constructed on the site of the monastery of Saint Magloire. Magloire had been Samson of Dol's successor as bishop of Dol, but retired and founded a monastery in Sark where he died in the late 6th century. According to the vita of Magloire, the monastery housed 62 monks and a school for the instruction of the sons of noble families from the Cotentin. Magloire's relics were venerated at the monastery until the mid-9th century when Viking raids rendered Sark unsafe, and the monks departed for Jersey, taking the relics with them.

Use in fiction

There are many examples of literature taking Sark as an inspiration or setting.

English literature

• Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote a poem, In Sark, which appears in the collection A Century of Roundels.
• John Oxenham wrote Carette Of Sark (1907) and his 1910 novel A Maid Of The Silver Sea uses the mines of Little Sark as its setting.
• The novel Mr Pye by Mervyn Peake, best known for the Gormenghast series. Sark may also have been a crucial inspiration for Peake while writing Gormenghast (he lived on the island for some time).
• Dame of Sark, the memoirs of the 21st Seigneur Sibyl Mary Hathaway, who was present during the German occupation, were made into a play and television drama of the same name.
• The novel Appointment with Venus by Jerrard Tickell is set on the fictional island of Armorel, which is presumed to be based on Sark. The 1951 film of the book used Sark as a principal location.
• Sarah Caudwell's The Sirens Sang of Murder (1989) is partly set in Sark.

French literature

Maurice Leblanc's novel L'Île aux Trente Cercueils (translated in English as The Secret of Sarek) features an island called Sarek, off the coast of Brittany, and bears obvious similarities to Sark. In the story, gentleman-thief Arsène Lupin rescues Véronique d'Hergemont from a local superstition requiring the death of thirty women to appease vengeful spirits.

Television

• The New Statesman (6th episode of the fourth series: The Irresistible Rise of Alan B'Stard) featured a faked invasion of Sark
• Bergerac the Jersey-based television detective also featured Sark in one episode.
• Enemy at the Door a Second World War television drama: Episode 7 of Series 2 was set in Sark and La Coupée features in a number of scenes.
• Coast (BBC) came to Sark, and in particular the Gouliot Caves, in episode 8 of series 3

Sark was featured in Episode 3 of the 2009 ITV television series Islands of Britain (TV series)|Islands of Britain, presented by Martin Clunes; islanders involved in the programme included Alan Blythe (Constable) and Rossford de Carteret.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Sark)

• Official government site
• Official Sark tourism site
• BBC – Feudal island brings in democracy
• Documentary about Sark
• Official Sark Surgery site
• Pictures of La Coupée
• Sark Folk Festival (International Folk, Roots, & Acoustic Festival)
• Toplis: Artist of Sark. Biography of William A Toplis

References

Books

• Cachemaille, Rev J.L.V. (1928). The Island of Sark. 
• de Carteret, A.R. (1956). The Story of Sark. London: Peter Owen Limited. 
• Toyne, S.M. (1959). Sark: A Feudal Survival. Eton, Windsor: The Shakespeare Head Press. 
• Ewen, A. H.; de Carteret, Allan R. (1969). The Fief of Sark. Guernsey: Guernsey Press. 
• Barnett, A.J. (1977). The Constitution of Sark. 
• Coysh, Victor (1982). Sark: The Last Stronghold of Feudalism. Guernsey: Toucan Press. 
• Karbe, Lars Cassio (1984). Das politische System der Insel Sark. Modelle europäischer Zwergstaaten – die normannische Seigneurie Sark (Sercq). Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3820474838. 
• Hawkes, Ken (1995). Sark. Guernsey: Guernsey Press. ISBN 0-902550-46-2. 
• Rivett, Peter J. (1999). Sark: A Feudal Fraud?. Devon: Planetesimal Publishing. ISBN 0-9534947-2-1. 
• Sack, John (1959). Report from Practically Nowhere. New York: Curtis Publishing Company. pp. 26–42.