Sark ( Sercquiais: or , ) is an island in the southwestern

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, off the coast of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, and part of the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, with its own set of laws based on Norman law, and its own parliament. It was a royal

fiefdom A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

until 2008, when the Constitution of Sark went into effect. Sark has a population of about 500. Including the nearby island of

Brecqhou Brecqhou (or Brechou; ) is one of the Channel Islands, located off the west coast of Sark where they are now geographically detached from each other. Brecqhou is politically part of both Sark and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It has been establishe ...

, it has an area of . Little Sark is a peninsula joined by a natural but high and very narrow isthmus to the rest of Sark Island. Sark is one of the few places in the world where cars are banned from roads, and only tractors, bicycles, and horse-drawn vehicles are allowed. In 2011, Sark was designated as a Dark Sky Community and the first Dark Sky Island in the world.

Geography and geology

Sark consists of two main parts, Greater Sark, located at about , and Little Sark to the south. They are connected by a narrow isthmus called La Coupée which is long and has a drop of on each side. Protective railings were added 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

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

under the direction of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

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

The highest point on Sark is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. A windmill, dated 1571, is found there, the sails of which were removed during World War II. This high point is named '' Le Moulin'', 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

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...

. At Port Gorey, the ruins of silver mines may 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. 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. Sark is made up mainly of

amphibolite Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose ...

and

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

gneiss rocks, 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 Pre-Cambrian Age Cadomian Orogeny. The quartz diorite sheets were intruded during this Cadomian deformation and metamorphic event. All the Sark rocks (and those of the nearby Channel Islands of

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

and

Alderney Alderney ( ; ; ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest isla ...

) formed during geological activity in the continental crust above an ancient

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

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. Sark also exercises jurisdiction over the island of

, only a few hundred feet west of Greater Sark. It is a private island, but it has recently been opened to some visitors. From 1993 Brecqhou was owned by the brothers

David and Frederick Barclay Sir David Rowat Barclay (27 October 1934 – 10 January 2021) and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay (born 27 October 1934), commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom Frederick Barclay ...

, until David Barclay died in 2021 and Frederick Barclay became sole owner. The brothers contested Sark's control over the island. The candidates endorsed by their various business interests on the island failed to win any seats in the elections held in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Toponymy

Old records

''Sark'' is probably first mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary (''Itinerarium Antonini Augusti'', part II: ''itinerarium maritimum'') 3rd – 4th century AD together with the other main

as ''Sarnia'', ''Caesarea'', ''Barsa'', ''Silia'' and ''Andium'', but it is unclear to which it refers. It has been suggested that ''Silia'' referred to ''Sark''. The earliest record to evoke possibly the name of ''Sark'' are the ''Life of Saint Samson'' and the ''Life of Saint Magloire'', bishops of Dol-de-Bretagne. They spell it ''Sargia'', with the neighbouring island ''Bissargia'', all the other documents are from the 11th to the 12th century and the forms are: ''Serc, Serch, Sercum, Serco''.

Etymology

Richard Coates has suggested that in the absence of a

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

etymology it may be worthwhile looking for a

Proto-Semitic Proto-Semitic is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Semitic languages. There is no consensus regarding the location of the linguistic homeland for Proto-Semitic: scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant, the Sahara, ...

source for the name. He proposes a comparison between the probable root of Sark, ''*Sarg-'', and

''*śrq ''"redden; rise (as of the sun); east", noting Sark's position as the easternmost island of the

group. His theory is based on the early medieval Latin records mentioning ''Sargia'', but many Islands more or less close to Sark have a Latin name ending with ''-gia'', such as ''Angia'' (Channel Island), Oye-Plage (

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

, ''Ogia'' 8th century) and Île-d'Yeu (

Vendée Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.René Lepelley suggests a Scandinavian etymology that would explain the regular and late records of the root ''Serc-'' in the documents, according to him, it could be Old Norse ''serkr'' "shirt". He compares with the name given to an island or a mountain by Vikings sailing from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

: ''Hvítserkr'' cf. Hvitserk, maybe Mount Forel, so

Old Saxon Old Saxon (), also known as Old Low German (), was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Eur ...

''*Serki'' or Old Norse > ''Serc'' could have been a descriptive landmark for Saxon or Scandinavian sailors. In addition Norman toponymy reveals a mixture of (Anglo-)Saxon and Old Norse (Old Danish) place name elements. The Old English form of "shirt" (related to Old Norse ) is precisely ''serċ, syrċ'' > Middle English , , (through the Anglian variant).

History

Early history

In ancient times, Sark was almost certainly occupied by the Unelli, the Gallic tribe of the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Gu ...

. These people were conquered by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

about 56 BC in the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gauls, Gallic, Germanic peoples, Germanic, and Celtic Britons, Brittonic trib ...

. About three decades later under

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, Gallia Celtica was subdivided into three parts, with this area a part of Gallia Lugdunensis, with its capital in

Lugdunum Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Colonia (Roman), Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon, France, Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but cont ...

, now

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. A later division was named ''Lugdunensis secunda'' (''Lyonnaise'' 2nd). A Unelli town, now Coutances, was named ''Constantia'' in 298 by the Roman emperor

Constantius Chlorus Flavius Valerius Constantius ( – 25 July 306), also called Constantius I, was a Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as Caesar (title), ''caesar'' ...

. Around 430, the bishopric of Coutances (much later under the archbishopric of Rouen), was established in Coutances, having about the same limits as the ''Lyonnaise'' 2nd. In 933, Sark was included in the

Duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a r ...

, based on the traditional boundaries of the ''Lugdunensis secunda'' and the archbishopric of Rouen. Following the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

in 1066, the island was united with the Crown of England. In the thirteenth century, the French

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

Eustace the Monk, having served King John, used Sark as a base of operations. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the island was populated by

monastic Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...

communities. By the 16th century, however, the island was uninhabited and used by pirates as a refuge and base. In 1565, Helier de Carteret,

Seigneur A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

of St. Ouen in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, received

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

from

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

granting him Sark as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

in perpetuity on condition that he kept the island free of pirates and occupied by at least forty men who were of her English subjects or swore allegiance to the Crown. This he duly did, leasing 40 parcels of land (known as "Tenements") at a low rent to forty families, mostly from St Ouen, on condition that a house be built and maintained on each parcel and that "the Tenant" provide one man, armed with a

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

, for the defence of the island. The 40 tenements survive to this day, albeit with minor boundary changes. (In 2015, the 450th anniversary of this event was commemorated with the construction of a modern henge monument, Sark Henge.) A subsequent attempt by the families to establish a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

under a

bailiff A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

, as in Jersey, was stopped by the Guernsey authorities who resented any attempt to wrest Sark from their bailiwick.

Recent history

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 Sark's

to local

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

John Allaire. After the company running the mine went bankrupt, le Pelley was unable to keep up the

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...

payments and, in 1849, his son Pierre Carey le Pelley, the new Seigneur, was forced to sell the fief to Marie Collings for a total of £1,383 (£6,000 less the sum borrowed and an accumulated interest of £616 and 13s). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the island, along with the other Channel Islands, was occupied by German forces between 1940 and 1945. German military rule on Sark began on 4 July 1940, the day after the Guernsey '' Kommandant'' Major Albrecht Lanz and his interpreter and chief of staff Major Maas visited the island to inform the Dame and Seigneur (

Sibyl The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophet, prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias (geographer), PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he desc ...

and Robert Hathaway) of the new regime.

British Commandos The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the World War II, Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out Raid (military), raids against German-occ ...

raided the island several times. Operation Basalt, during the night of 3–4 October 1942, captured a prisoner, and Hardtack 7 was a failed British landing in December 1943. Sark was finally liberated on 10 May 1945, a full day after Guernsey. In late August 1990, an unemployed French

nuclear physicist Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

named André Gardes, who believed he was the rightful holder of the Seigneur's title, attempted an invasion of Sark armed with a semi-automatic weapon. 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 ''connétable'' approached the Frenchman and complimented him on the quality of his weapon. Gardes changed the gun's magazine to illustrate how it worked, allowing the constable to tackle and arrest him. He was given a seven-day sentence, which he served in Guernsey. Gardes attempted this again the following year, but was recognized in Guernsey, arrested, and handed over to the French government.

Transition to new system of government

Billionaire brothers

had purchased an island within Sark's territorial waters in 1993 along with the hotels on the island. In the mid-1990s, the brothers petitioned the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, 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. In 1999, women in Sark were given equal rights of property inheritance, mainly due to the brothers' influence. 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

Barclay brothers Sir David Rowat Barclay (27 October 1934 – 10 January 2021) and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay (born 27 October 1934), commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom Frederick Barclay ...

. Their premise was that a change was necessary to comply with the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

, though it was suggested that their objection was more likely at odds with certain property tax requirements and primogeniture laws affecting their holdings. The old system was described as

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

and undemocratic because the tenants were entitled to sit in Chief Pleas as of right. 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. The

Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are curre ...

approved the Sark law reforms on 9 April 2008. The first elections under the new law were held in December 2008 and the new chamber first convened in January 2009. 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

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

had ruled his powers to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and his powers were subject to further legal challenges on these grounds. In 2012 the BBC '' Today'' programme reported on local disquiet about the influence on the island of the Barclay brothers. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' magazine further illustrated the ongoing and escalating tensions between the Barclays and some of the longer-term residents. In 2017 '' Private Eye'' also reported on the situation, following the Barclays' decision to close their vineyard and a number of hotels and shops they own on Sark.

Dark Sky Community status

In January 2011, the

International Dark-Sky Association DarkSky International, formerly the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), is a United States–based nonprofit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician and amateu ...

designated Sark as Europe's first Dark Sky Community and the first Dark Sky Island in the world. This designation recognises that Sark is sufficiently clear of

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting sources, during the ...

to allow naked-eye

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. Although Sark was aided in its achievement by its location, its historic ban on cars and the fact that there is no public lighting, it was also necessary for local residents to make adjustments, such as re-siting lights, to cut the light pollution. The designation was made in January 2011, following an audit by the IDA in 2010. The award is significant in that Sark is the first island community to have achieved this; other Dark-Sky Places have, up to now, been mainly uninhabited areas, and IDA chairman Martin Morgan-Taylor commended Sark residents for their effort. After the designation was granted, Sark Astronomy Society worked to secure funds for an astronomical observatory on the island. In October 2015 Sark's observatory was officially opened by Marek Kukula, public astronomer from the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

Politics

Until the second half of the 2000s Sark was considered the last feudal state in Europe. Together with the other

, it is the last remnant of the former

still belonging to

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. Sark belongs to the Crown in its own right and has an independent relationship with the Crown through the Lieutenant Governor in Guernsey. Formally, the Seigneur holds it as a

from the Crown, reenfeoffing the landowners on the island with their respective parcels. The political consequences of this construction were abolished in recent years, particularly in the reform of the legislative body, Chief Pleas, which took place in 2008. Although part of the

Bailiwick of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is a self-governing British Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France, comprising several of the Channel Islands. It has a total land area of ...

, Sark is fiscally separate from the rest of the Bailiwick. Together with the islands of Alderney and Guernsey, Sark from time to time approves Bailiwick of Guernsey legislation, which, subject to the approval of all three legislatures, applies in the entire Bailiwick. Legislation cannot be made which applies on Sark without the approval of the Chief Pleas, although recently Chief Pleas has been delegating a number of ordinance-making powers to the States of Guernsey. Such powers are, however, in each case subject to dis-application, or repeal, by the Chief Pleas. By long standing custom, Sark's criminal law has been made by the States of Guernsey, and this custom was put on a statutory basis in Section 4 of the Reform (Sark) Law, 2008, by which Sark delegates criminal law making power to the States of Guernsey. Sark has its own United Nations Standard Country or Area Code for Statistical Use (680). That code is used for statistical processing purposes by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat. The ISO 3166-1 code element has been exceptionally reserved to refer to Sark. An “exceptionally reserved” code element does not represent a country name in ISO 3166-1, but is reserved for a particular use at the special request of a national ISO member body, government, or international organization (in this case, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

). Previously Sark was represented by Guernsey's country code (GG). Sark also fought for 20 years to get the .cq

country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all tw ...

Seigneur

Christopher Beaumont is the current and twenty-third Seigneur of Sark, having inherited the Seigneurie in 2016. Before the constitutional reforms of 2008, the Seigneur (or Dame in the case of a woman holding the office) was the head of the government of the Isle of Sark. Many of the laws, particularly those related to inheritance and the rule of the Seigneur, had changed little since their promulgation in 1565 under

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

. For example, the Seigneur held the sole right to keep pigeons or an unspayed dog. The latter right was repealed in 2008. The Seigneur remains the

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

for the island, subject only to the Crown in Right of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

and

liege lord Homage (/ˈhɒmɪdʒ/ or ) (from Medieval Latin , lit. "pertaining to a man") in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title t ...

. With the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, the Seigneur appoints and dismisses Sark's public officers, including the Seneschal, the Prevot, and the Greffier. The Seignuer as chairperson, together with the Seneschal, the Prevot, and the Greffier, comprise a board of trustees for the acquisition, management, and disposition of all property belonging to Chief Pleas. Likewise, the Seigneur has the right to speak at meetings of Chief Pleas, but not to vote, and the right to veto primary legislation before it is presented for

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

. Chief Pleas may nevertheless override this veto by a simple majority of its duly elected counseillers.

Seneschal

Until 2013 the

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

of Sark was the head of the Chief Pleas. From 1583 and 1675 judicial functions were exercised by five elected jurats and a juge, but since 1675 the Seneschal has also been the judge of the island. The Seneschal was historically appointed by the Seigneur, but nowadays there is an Appointment Committee consisting of the Seigneur and two other members appointed by the Seigneur. In 2010, following the decision of the English Court of Appeal, the Chief Pleas decided to split the dual role of the Seneschal. Thus, since 2013 the Chief Pleas has elected its own President, who presides in almost all cases. The Seneschal now presides in Chief Pleas only during the election of the President. The complete list of all the Seneschals of Sark from 1675 is as follows: # Pierre Gibault (15/7/1675–1680) # Thomas de Beauvoir (1680–1683) # Phillipe Dumeresq (1683–1702) # Jean Payne (1702–1707) # Philippe de Carteret (1707–1744) # Henri de Carteret (1744–1752) # Phillipe le Masurier (1752–1777) # Henri le Masurier (1777–1785) # Amice le Couteur (1785–1808) # Jean le Couteur (1808–1812) # Jean Falle (1812–1830) # Elie le Masurier (1830–1841) # Philippe Guille (1841–1851) # Thomas Godfray (1851–1876) # William de Carteret (1876–1881) # Abraham Baker (1881–1891) # Thomas Godfray (1891–1920) # Kenneth Campbell (1920–1922) # Ashby Taylor (1922–1925) # Frederick de Carteret (1925–1937) # William Carré (1937–1945) # William Baker (1945–1969) # Bernard Jones (1969–1979) # Hilary Carré (1979–1985) # Lawrence Philip de Carteret (1985–2000) # Reginald J. Guille (2000–2013) # Jeremy la Trobe-Bateman (2013–2021) # Bethan Owen (2021–2022) # Victoria Stamps (2022–present)

Tenants

Pursuant to the royal

, the Seigneur was to keep the island inhabited by at least 40 armed men. Therefore, from his lands, 39 parcels or tenements, 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' (: 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 Tenements.

Chief Pleas

Chief Pleas (; Sercquiais: ') is the parliament of Sark. It consists of eighteen members ('), elected for a period of office of four years. In addition, the Seigneur and a speaker (who is elected by the ) are counted as members; but they have no right to vote. The periods of office are shifted, with the period of half the starting in the middle of the periods of the other half. Thus, every second year, nine are elected for the coming four years. The elections are held on the basis of a single multi-member Sark-wide constituency, with the nine candidates receiving most votes being elected. The ', the ' and the treasurer also attend but are not members; the treasurer may address Chief Pleas on matters of taxation and finance. However, if there are not more willing candidates than the numbers of positions to fill (including any casual vacancies), then all candidates are declared elected, without any actual election necessary. This happened both in the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and the

2016 elections Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 April 2016 Djibouti * 2016 Djiboutian presidential ...

to the Chief Pleas. The last elections were held on 11 December 2024. Until 2008, the Chief Pleas consisted of the tenants, and twelve deputies of the people as the only representation of the majority, an office introduced in 1922. The Seigneur and the

(who presided) were also members of Chief Pleas. Since 2000, Chief Pleas was working on its own reform, responding to internal and international pressures. On 8 March 2006 by a vote of 25–15 Chief Pleas voted for a new legislature of the Seigneur, the Seneschal, fourteen elected landowners and fourteen elected non-landowners. But it was made plain by the British

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

Jack Straw that this option was not on the table. Offered two options for reform involving an elected legislature, one fully elected, one with a number of seats reserved for elected tenants, 56% of the inhabitants expressed a preference for a totally elected legislature. Following the poll, Chief Pleas voted on 4 October 2006 to replace the twelve deputies and forty tenants in Chief Pleas by 28 ' elected by universal adult suffrage. This decision was suspended in January 2007 when it was pointed out to Chief Pleas that the 56% versus 44% majority achieved in the opinion poll did not achieve the 60% majority required for the constitutional change. The decision was replaced by the proposal that Chief Pleas should consist of sixteen tenants and twelve ' both elected by universal adult suffrage from 2008 to 2012 and that a binding referendum should then decide whether this composition should be kept or replaced by 28 '. This proposal was rejected by the Privy Council and the 28 ' option was reinstated in February 2008 and accepted by Privy Council in April 2008. In 2003, Chief Pleas voted to vary the long-standing ban on divorce in the island by extending to the Royal Court of Guernsey power to grant divorces. In 2017, due to a lack of candidates standing for elections, the number of was reduced from 28 to 18, with nine elected every two years. Bailiwick of Guernsey laws and United Kingdom Acts of Parliament can (the latter as in the case of all the other Channel Islands) be extended to Sark. Normally the consent of Chief Pleas is obtained for this, but the Supreme Court ruled in ''R v Secretary of State for Justice'' that it need not be. Sark does not make its own criminal laws; the responsibility for making criminal law was assigned to the States of Guernsey by Section 4(3) of the Reform (Sark) Law 2008.

Officers

The executive officers on the island are: * The Seneschal (Chief Judge, formerly also President of Chief Pleas) and Deputy * The Prevôt (Sheriff of the Court and of Chief Pleas) and Deputy * The Greffier (Clerk) and Deputy * The Treasurer (Finances) and Deputy * The Connétable (or

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

) is the senior of two police officers and police administrator and the Vingtenier is the junior police officer. The Seneschal, Prevôt, and Greffier are chosen by the Seigneur, while the Treasurer, Constable and Vingtenier are elected by Chief Pleas. The list of current Officers of the Island of Sark: * Seneschal – Victoria Stamps ** Deputy Seneschal – Ashley Jarman * Prévôt – Kevin Adams ** Deputy Prévôt – Joanne Godwin * Greffier – Trevor John Hamon ** Deputy Greffier – Gary Hamon * Treasurer – Sarah Hudson * Constable – * Vingtenier – * Speaker of Chief Pleas – Paul Armorgie

''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 August 2021, this was withdrawn by the claimant in October 2021.

Periodicals

Since 2009 a resident of Sark has operated a weekly online newspaper called ''The Sark Newspaper'' (earlier: ''The Sark Newsletter''). The publisher is a former longtime employee of the wealthy

, who own the small neighbouring island of

. The publication has compared the local government of Sark "to fascist Germany in the 1930s". In 2014 over 50 residents of Sark filed complaints with the police about accusations made by the paper. Since 2011 a quarterly magazine called ''Sark Life'', which promotes a positive view of the island and welcomes contributions, is published by the Sark-based publishing company ''Small Island Publishing''.

Sercquiais

Sercquiais (''Sarkese'', or sometimes called ''Sark-French'') is a dialect of the

Norman language Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a ''Langues d'oïl, langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical region, historical and Cultural area, cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to des ...

still spoken in 1998 by a few older inhabitants of the island. Its decline has been linked with the arrival of English-speaking miners in 1835, and increased tourism in more recent years.

Economy

Tourism and financial services

Sark's economy depends primarily on tourism and financial services. Sark has had a private company registry since 2017. The Guernsey's financial services commission does not register companies based in Sark.

Taxation

Sark is fiscally autonomous from

, and consequently has control over how it raises taxes. There are no taxes on income, capital gains or inheritances. There is also no VAT charged on goods and services, but import duties (Impôts) are charged on some goods brought onto the island at around 70–75% of Guernsey rates. However, the island does levy a Personal Capital Tax, a Property Tax, a Poll Tax ("Landing Tax") on visitors coming to the island, and a Property Transfer Tax (PTT) on residential properties when they are sold. The island has its own tax assessor (in 2016, this remained Simon de Carteret), who collects the

Property Tax A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth t ...

, PTT, and the Personal Capital Tax (direct tax). Currently, the Personal Capital Tax ranges from a minimum of £450, to a maximum of £9,000 or 0.39% per annum (whichever is the lower). In 2014, there were five taxpayers who paid the maximum amount of £6,400 (PCT and Property Tax combined), and six who paid zero tax. Residents over the age of 69 do not pay the PCT. If a resident chooses not to declare the value of their personal assets, they can elect to pay a flat-rate under the Forfait method. In 2006, Property Transfer Tax replaced the feudal ''Treizième''. This used to be calculated by dividing the purchase price of any of the 30 tenements or 40 freehold properties on Sark by 13. The proceeds from doing this were then paid directly to the

. When the Treizième was abolished, the Chief Pleas introduced an indexed-linked pension of £28,000 per year, payable to the Seigneur. An individual is considered to be a resident for tax purposes if they have remained on the island for at least 90 days in any tax year.

Sark Company Registry

Sark has no public company registry, and no company law. In January 2017, a private organisation called the "Sark Company Registry" was set up. The project was initially opposed by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, but that opposition ended with nothing, since no law could prohibit private registration of companies. None of managers of the private registry or any company registered by them was ever sanctioned.

Education

Sark generally follows the education system of England though this is not strictly adhered to. Sark has one school, the Sark School, which takes residents from the ages of 4 to 15. School is divided into four classes. Class 1 takes children from the ages of 4 to 7 (reception to year 2), class 2 caters to 7- to 9-year-olds (year 3 to year 4), class 3 has 9- to 14-year-olds (year 5 to year 9) and the older children attend class 4 (years 10 and 11). Pupils wishing to obtain a

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

or A-level qualification often finish their education in Guernsey or in England. Since 2006, however, a limited number of GCSEs have been offered to pupils at Sark School.

Population

Transport

The Isle of Sark Shipping Company operates small ferries from Sark to St Peter Port, Guernsey. The service takes 55 minutes for the crossing. A high-speed passenger ferry is operated in summer by the French company Manche Iles Express to Saint Helier,

. A 12-passenger boat, the ''Lady Maris II'', operates regular services to

. The island is a car-free zone where the only vehicles allowed are horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles,

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s, and battery-powered buggies for elderly or disabled people. Electric bicycles were deregulated in the 2019 Midsummer Chief Pleas with the ordinance coming in to force on 4 July 2019. Passengers and goods arriving by ferry from Guernsey are transported from the wharf by tractor-pulled vehicles. 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, and low-flying aircraft regularly fly over the island.

Religion

In common with the other Channel Islands, Sark is attached to the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

diocese of Salisbury The Diocese of Salisbury is a Church of England diocese in the south of England, within the ecclesiastical Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the historic county of Dorset (which excludes the deaneries of Bournemouth and Christchurch, ...

. Catholics depend on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth in England. Sark has an

church (St Peter's, built 1820) and a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church.

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

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 The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where it originated from Anglica ...

assembly. Its most notable member was the biblical scholar 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 A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

of Saint Magloire. Magloire had been

Samson of Dol Samson of Dol (also Samsun; born late 5th century) was a Welsh saint, who is also counted among the Brittany#Religion, seven founder saints of Brittany with Paul Aurelian, Pol Aurelian, Saint Tudwal, Tugdual or Tudwal, Brieuc, Saint Malo (saint ...

's successor as bishop of Dol, but retired and founded a monastery in Sark where he died in the late sixth century. According to the ''vita'' of Magloire, the monastery housed 62

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s and a school for the instruction of the sons of noble families from the Cotentin. Magloire's

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

s were venerated at the monastery until the mid-ninth century when

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

raids rendered Sark unsafe, and the monks departed for Jersey, taking the relics with them.

Law enforcement

Despite Sark having its own legislative assembly, Guernsey has sole responsibility for matters of criminal law under the Sark (Reform) Law 2008. For matters of extreme law enforcement the island calls upon the States of Guernsey Police Service. Sark has a small police station and jail, with two (rarely used) cells available. The island has several police officers permanently stationed on it, the constable (senior officer), the vingtenier (deputy constable), two assistant constables (former constables), two custody officers (special constables) and several special constables. Sark also has access to police services in Guernsey through the designation of a member of the Guernsey Neighbourhood Policing Team as a dedicated point of contact for Sark constables.

Emergency services

A resident doctor provides healthcare on Sark, and is available to attend accidents and emergencies. The Sark Ambulance Service operates two tractor-drawn ambulances, and is able to treat casualties and transport them to the harbour for transfer onto the Guernsey marine ambulance launch, ''Flying Christine III'', operated by Guernsey Ambulance and Rescue Service. A small ambulance station houses the two ambulances. Fire and rescue services are provided by an independent and volunteer service established in 1958. Originally named 'Sark Fire Brigade', it is now known as the Sark Fire and Rescue Service. The services operates two pump tenders and an all-purpose trailer; all three appliances are drawn by tractors owing to the ban on other motor vehicles on Sark. The original fire station was a large garage. Today the service operates from a large purpose-built fire station on La Chasse Marette. Lifeboat services are provided by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from the Guernsey lifeboat station, supported by the RNLI stations on Jersey and Alderney.

Sport

Participation in sport tends towards individual sports rather than team sports, but the population supports a cricket team, a rugby union team and a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team. Sark competes in the biennial Island Games in which the Sark football team has participated. The annual Sark to Jersey Rowing Race is contested by teams from both bailiwicks. Carl Hester, who was brought up in Sark, won a gold medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in the Individual and Team Dressage events. A Sark post box was painted gold to celebrate the event.

Sark in media

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

Norman literature

Although there is no record of literature about Sark in Sercquiais,

Guernésiais Guernésiais (), also known as Guerneseyese, ''Dgèrnésiais'', Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island simply as "patois". As one of the langues d ...

and Jèrriais literature has included writing about Sark; for example by such authors as Edwin John Luce, Thomas Grut, George F. Le Feuvre, and Denys Corbet.

English literature

* Algernon Swinburne wrote a poem, ''In Sark'', which appears in the collection ''A Century of Roundels''. *

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

's '' Sir Nigel'' (1906) includes a sub-plot where Black Simon of Norwich, a man at arms travelling with Sir Nigel Loring to war, obtains permission from Sir Robert Knolles to go ashore to Sark under cover of darkness. He takes his friend the archer Samkin Alward with him and beheads the (so-called) King of Sark in payment of a wager. * John Oxenham wrote ''Carette of Sark'' (1907) and ''The Perilous Lovers'' (1924), historical novels largely set on Sark. 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, is set on Sark. The book has been adapted for radio and television. The TV series, filmed on Sark, starred Derek Jacobi and Judy Parfitt, and featured a number of islanders. Peake lived on the island for several years as a painter before he began writing. The setting of his best known novels, the '' Gormenghast'' series, may have been inspired by Sark. * ''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. Dame Sibyl also wrote '' Maid of Sark'', an historical romance published in 1939; set in the sixteenth century, it incorporates events related to the defence of the island against the Bretons. * 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 A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

of the book used Sark as a principal location. * Bill Hopkins' 1957 novel '' The Divine and the Decay'' (republished in 1984 under the title ''The Leap'') is set primarily on a fictional island named Vachau. It is believed that Sark was the inspiration for this island. Hopkins went to Sark as part of his research for the novel. * Sarah Caudwell's '' The Sirens Sang of Murder'' (1989) is partly set in Sark, and contains references to John Oxenham's ''The Perilous Lovers''. *''The Last Kings of Sark:'' ''A Novel'' by Rosa Rankin-Gee is a 2015 coming-of-age story set in Sark. * The 2016 novel ''Iron Chamber of Memory'' by John C. Wright is set in Sark.

French literature

Maurice Leblanc's horror/mystery novel (translated in English as ''The Secret of Sarek'') features an island called Sarek, off the coast of Brittany, which bears obvious similarities to Sark.

In music

Irish musician, composer and singer Enya's 2015 album '' Dark Sky Island'' was inspired by Sark's designation as the first 'dark sky island'. Certain songs on the album, the title track especially, explore the stars, skies and nature. Dutch electronic musician Legowelt released a three-track 12" single named after the island, "Sark Island Acid", on the American record label L.I.E.S. in 2011.

Television

* The 1986 television adaptation of '' Mr Pye'' by Mervyn Peake and starring Derek Jacobi was filmed on the island. The original novel is also set on Sark. * Sark featured in the 6th episode of the fourth series of '' The New Statesman'', ''The Irresistible Rise of Alan B'Stard''. * Part of the seventh episode of the second series of

television drama '' Enemy at the Door'' takes place in Sark. La Coupée features in a number of scenes. * Sark, and in particular the Gouliot Caves, features in episode 8 of series 3 of the BBC television series ''

Coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

''. * Sark was featured in Episode 3 of the 2009 ITV television series '' Islands of Britain'', presented by Martin Clunes. * Series 7 and 8 of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

six-episode television series '' An Island Parish'' follows the Anglican priest and Methodist minister on Sark. It was first broadcast in 2013 and 2014. * One of the episodes of '' Bergerac'' called "Burnt" was mostly filmed on Sark. ''Bergerac'' was a Jersey-based BBC and Australia's

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

detective drama starring John Nettles, filmed between 1981 and 1991. The episode featured a fight on and over the edge of La Coupée.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Government of Sark webpage
*
St Peter's Sark
* {{Authority control Car-free islands of Europe Geography of the Channel Islands Parishes of the Channel Islands Dark-sky preserves Islands of the Channel Islands Road-inaccessible communities of Europe Non-sovereign monarchy