{"id":9428,"date":"2022-04-25T04:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T11:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=9428"},"modified":"2022-04-25T08:15:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T15:15:25","slug":"sark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/sark\/","title":{"rendered":"Sark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

Sark is a part of the\u00a0Channel Islands<\/a>\u00a0in the southwestern\u00a0English Channel<\/a>, off the coast of\u00a0Normandy<\/a>,\u00a0France<\/a>. It is a royal\u00a0fief<\/a>, which forms part of the\u00a0Bailiwick of Guernsey<\/a>, with its own set of laws based on\u00a0Norman law<\/a>\u00a0and its own parliament. It has a population of about 500.<\/sup>\u00a0Sark (including the nearby island of\u00a0Brecqhou<\/a>) has an area of 2.10 square miles (5.44\u00a0km2<\/sup>).<\/sup>\u00a0Little Sark<\/a>\u00a0is a peninsula joined by a natural but high and very narrow\u00a0isthmus<\/a>\u00a0to the rest of Sark.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sark within the Bailiwick of Guernsey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sark is one of the few remaining places in the world where\u00a0cars are banned from roads<\/a>\u00a0and only tractors and horse-drawn vehicles are allowed.[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In 2011, Sark was designated as a\u00a0Dark Sky Community<\/a>\u00a0and the first Dark Sky Island in the world.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

Early history:<\/span><\/h3>\n

In ancient times, Sark was almost certainly occupied by the\u00a0Unelli<\/a>, the\u00a0Gallic tribe<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Cotentin Peninsula<\/a>. These people were conquered by\u00a0Julius Caesar<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Roman Empire<\/a>\u00a0about 56\u00a0BC in the\u00a0Gallic Wars<\/a>. About three decades later under\u00a0Augustus<\/a>,\u00a0Gallia Celtica<\/a>\u00a0was subdivided into three parts, with this area a part of\u00a0Gallia Lugdunensis<\/a>, with its capital in\u00a0Lugdunum<\/a>, now\u00a0Lyon<\/a>. A later division was named\u00a0Lugdunensis secunda<\/i>\u00a0(Lyonnaise<\/i>\u00a02nd). A Unelli town, now\u00a0Coutances<\/a>,\u00a0was named<\/a>\u00a0Constantia<\/i>\u00a0in 298 by the Roman emperor\u00a0Constantius Chlorus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Around 430, the\u00a0bishopric of Coutances<\/a>\u00a0(much later under the\u00a0archbishopric of Rouen<\/a>), was established in\u00a0Coutances<\/a>, having about the same limits as the\u00a0Lyonnaise<\/i>\u00a02nd.<\/p>\n

In 933, Sark was included in the\u00a0Duchy of Normandy<\/a>, based on the traditional boundaries of the\u00a0Lugdunensis secunda<\/i>\u00a0and the\u00a0archbishopric of Rouen<\/a>. Following the\u00a0Norman conquest of England<\/a>\u00a0in 1066, the island was united with the\u00a0Crown of England<\/a>. In the thirteenth century, the French\u00a0pirate<\/a>\u00a0Eustace the Monk<\/a>, having served\u00a0King John<\/a>, used Sark as a base of operations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A horse-drawn carriage on Sark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the\u00a0Middle Ages<\/a>, the island was populated by\u00a0monastic<\/a>\u00a0communities. By the 16th century, however, the island was uninhabited and used by pirates as a refuge and base. In 1565,\u00a0Helier de Carteret<\/a>,\u00a0Seigneur<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0St. Ouen<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Jersey<\/a>, received\u00a0letters patent<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Queen Elizabeth I<\/a>\u00a0granting him Sark as a\u00a0fief<\/a>\u00a0in perpetuity on condition that he kept the island free of pirates and occupied by at least forty men who were of her\u00a0English subjects<\/a>\u00a0or swore allegiance to the Crown.<\/sup>\u00a0This he duly did, leasing 40 parcels of land (known as “Tenements”) at a low rent to forty families, mostly from\u00a0St. Ouen<\/a>, on condition that a house be built and maintained on each parcel and that “the Tenant” provide one man, armed with a\u00a0musket<\/a>, for the defense of the island. The 40 tenements survive to this day, albeit with minor boundary changes. A subsequent attempt by the families to endow a constitution<\/a>\u00a0under a\u00a0bailiff<\/a>, as in Jersey, was stopped by the Guernsey authorities who resented any attempt to wrest Sark from their bailiwick.<\/p>\n

Recent history:<\/span><\/h3>\n

In 1844, desperate for funds to continue the operation of the silver mine on the island, the incumbent Seigneur,\u00a0Ernest le Pelley<\/a>, obtained\u00a0Crown permission<\/a>\u00a0to mortgage Sark’s\u00a0fief<\/a>\u00a0to local\u00a0privateer<\/a>\u00a0John Allaire. After the company running the mine went bankrupt, le Pelley was unable to keep up the\u00a0mortgage<\/a>\u00a0payments and, in 1849, his son\u00a0Pierre Carey le Pelley<\/a>, the new Seigneur, was forced to sell the fief to\u00a0Marie Collings<\/a>\u00a0for a total of \u00a31,383<\/sup> (\u00a36,000 less the sum borrowed and an accumulated interest of \u00a3616 and 13s).<\/p>\n

During\u00a0World War II<\/a>, the island, along with the other Channel Islands, was\u00a0occupied by German forces<\/a>\u00a0between 1940 and 1945.\u00a0German military rule on Sark<\/a>\u00a0began on 4 July 1940, the day after the Guernsey\u00a0Kommandant<\/a><\/i>\u00a0Major Albrecht Lanz and his interpreter and chief of staff Major Maas visited the island to inform the Dame and Seigneur (Sibyl<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Robert Hathaway<\/a>) of the new regime.\u00a0British Commandos<\/a>\u00a0raided the island several times.\u00a0Operation Basalt<\/a>, during the night of 3\u20134 October 1942, captured a prisoner, and\u00a0Hardtack 7<\/a>\u00a0was a failed British landing in December 1943. Sark was finally liberated on 10 May 1945, a full day after Guernsey.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sark from the Air<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In late August 1990, an unemployed French\u00a0nuclear physicist<\/a>\u00a0named Andr\u00e9 Gardes, armed with a\u00a0semi-automatic weapon<\/a>, attempted an invasion of Sark. The night Gardes arrived, he put up two posters declaring his intention to take over the island the following day at noon. The following day he started a solo foot patrol in front of the manor, in battle-dress, weapon in hand. While Gardes was sitting on a bench waiting for noon to arrive, the island’s volunteer\u00a0conn\u00e9table<\/i><\/a>\u00a0approached the Frenchman and complimented him on the quality of his weapon.<\/sup> Gardes then proceeded to change the gun’s magazine, at which point he was tackled to the ground, arrested, and given a seven-day sentence which he served in Guernsey.<\/sup> Gardes attempted a comeback the following year, but was intercepted in Guernsey.<\/p>\n

Transition to new system of government:<\/span><\/h4>\n

Brothers David and Frederick Barclay<\/a>\u00a0had purchased an island within Sark’s territorial waters in 1993<\/sup>\u00a0along with the hotels on the island.<\/sup>\u00a0In the mid-1990s, the brothers petitioned the\u00a0European Court of Human Rights<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Strasbourg<\/a>, France, challenging Sark’s inheritance law, which mandated their island be left to David’s oldest son. The brothers wanted to will their estate equally to their four children.<\/sup> In 1999, women in Sark were given equal rights of property inheritance, mainly due to the brothers’ influence.<\/p>\n

Until 2008, Sark’s parliament (Chief Pleas) was a single chamber consisting of 54 members, comprising the Seigneur, the Seneschal, 40 owners of the tenements and 12 elected deputies. A change to the system was advocated largely by the\u00a0Barclay brothers<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Their premise was that a change was necessary to comply with the\u00a0European Convention on Human Rights<\/a>, though it was suggested that their objection was more likely at odds with certain property tax requirements and primogeniture laws affecting their holdings.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The old system was described as\u00a0feudal<\/a>\u00a0and undemocratic because the tenants were entitled to sit in Chief Pleas as of right.<\/sup><\/p>\n

On 16 January 2008 and 21 February 2008, the Chief Pleas approved a law to reform Chief Pleas as a 30-member chamber, with 28 members elected in island-wide elections, one hereditary member (the Seigneur) and one member (the Seneschal) appointed for life.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0Privy Council of the United Kingdom<\/a>\u00a0approved the Sark law reforms on 9 April 2008.<\/sup>\u00a0The first elections under the new law were held in December 2008 and the new chamber first convened in January 2009.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Seigneurie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some Sark residents have complained that the new system is not democratic and have described the powers the new law granted to the Seneschal, an unelected member whose term the new law extended to the duration of his natural life, as imperial or dictatorial. The\u00a0Court of Appeal<\/a>\u00a0had ruled his powers to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights<\/sup> and his powers were subject to further legal challenges on these grounds.<\/p>\n

In 2012 the BBC\u00a0Today<\/a><\/i> program reported on local disquiet about the influence on the island of David and Frederick Barclay, the billionaire brothers who own The Daily Telegraph<\/a><\/i>.<\/sup>\u00a0The New Yorker<\/a><\/i>\u00a0magazine further illustrated the ongoing and escalating tensions between the Barclays and some of the longer-term residents.<\/sup>\u00a0In 2017\u00a0Private Eye<\/a><\/i>\u00a0also reported on the situation, following the Barclays’ decision to close their vineyard and a number of hotels and shops they own on Sark.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Geography:<\/h2>\n

Sark consists of two main parts, Greater Sark\u00a0and\u00a0Little Sark<\/a>\u00a0to the south. They are connected by a narrow\u00a0isthmus<\/a>\u00a0called La Coup\u00e9e which is 300 feet (91\u00a0m) long and has a drop of 330 feet (100\u00a0m) on each side.<\/sup>\u00a0Protective\u00a0railings<\/a>\u00a0were erected in 1900; before then, children would crawl across on their hands and knees to avoid being blown over the edge. A narrow concrete road covering the entirety of the isthmus was built in 1945 by German\u00a0prisoners of war<\/a>\u00a0under the direction of the\u00a0Royal Engineers<\/a>. Due to its isolation, the inhabitants of Little Sark had their own distinct form of\u00a0Sercquiais<\/a>, the native\u00a0Norman dialect<\/a> of the island.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
“Le Moulin” windmill, c. 1905<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The highest point on Sark is 374 feet (114\u00a0m)\u00a0above sea level<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0A\u00a0windmill<\/a>, dated 1571, is found there, the sails of which were removed during World War II. This high point is named\u00a0Le Moulin<\/a><\/i>, after the windmill. The location is also the highest point in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Little Sark had a number of mines accessing a source of\u00a0galena<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0At Port Gorey, the ruins of silver mines<\/sup>\u00a0may be seen. 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Economy:<\/h2>\n

Sark’s economy depends primarily on tourism and financial services.<\/p>\n

Transportation:<\/h2>\n

The Isle of Sark Shipping Company operates small ferries from Sark to\u00a0St Peter Port<\/a>, Guernsey. The service takes 55 minutes for the 9 miles (14\u00a0km) crossing.<\/sup>\u00a0A high-speed passenger ferry is operated in summer by the French company Manche Iles Express to\u00a0Jersey<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0A 12-passenger boat, the\u00a0Lady Maris II<\/i>, operates regular services to\u00a0Alderney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The high-speed ferry service from Jersey arriving at Sark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The island is a\u00a0car-free zone<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0where the only vehicles allowed are\u00a0horse-drawn vehicles<\/a>, bicycles,\u00a0tractors<\/a>, and battery-powered buggies for elderly or disabled people.\u00a0Electric bicycles<\/a>\u00a0were deregulated in the 2019 Midsummer\u00a0Chief Pleas<\/a>\u00a0with the ordinance coming in to force on 4 July 2019.<\/sup>\u00a0Passengers and goods arriving by ferry from Guernsey are transported from the wharf by tractor-pulled vehicles.<\/p>\n

There is no airport on Sark, and flight over Sark below 2400\u00a0ft is prohibited by the\u00a0Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Guernsey) Regulations 1985<\/i>\u00a0(Guernsey 1985\/21). The closest airports are\u00a0Guernsey Airport<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jersey Airport<\/a>. Sark lies directly in line of approach to the runway of Guernsey airport, however, and low-flying\u00a0aircraft regularly fly over the island.<\/p>\n

Flag of Sark:<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0flag of Sark\u00a0is white with a red\u00a0St. George’s cross<\/a>\u00a0and a red canton containing two yellow lions (or in heraldic terms “Leopards<\/a>“). It was designed by\u00a0Herbert Pitt<\/a>\u00a0in 1938 and adopted the same year as the personal standard of the\u00a0Seigneur of Sark<\/a>\u00a0before becoming the island’s flag in 1987.<\/sup>\u00a0The canton is similar to the arms of nearby\u00a0Normandy<\/a>, of which the Channel Islands were historically a part.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Flag of Sark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flag is flown from the\u00a0Ministry of Justice<\/a>\u00a0in London on 6 August to mark the granting of the fief on that day in 1565.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The Ministry of Justice is the British government department responsible for relations with the\u00a0Crown Dependencies<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flag of Sark is white with a red St. George’s cross and a red canton containing two yellow lions (or in heraldic terms “Leopards”). It was designed by Herbert Pitt in 1938 and adopted the same year as the personal standard of the Seigneur of Sark before becoming the island’s flag in 1987. The canton is similar to the arms of nearby Normandy, of which the Channel Islands were historically a part.<\/p>\n

The flag is flown from the Ministry of Justice in London on 6 August to mark the granting of the fief on that day in 1565. The Ministry of Justice is the British government department responsible for relations with the Crown Dependencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[66,59,26,5,6,7,29,60,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9661,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9428\/revisions\/9661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}