Leaving The Island
by Chris Smith
Title
Leaving The Island
Artist
Chris Smith
Medium
Photograph
Description
Coastal scene on Sark looking out over the English Channel.
Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population of about 600. Sark (including the nearby island of Brecqhou) has an area of 2.10 square miles (5.44 km). Sark is one of the few remaining places in the world where cars are banned from roads and only tractors 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. 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 Coupwhich is 300 feet (91 m) long and has a drop of 330 feet (100 m) on each side. Protective railings were erected 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 its isolation, the inhabitants of Little Sark had their own distinct form of Sercquiais, the native Norman dialect of the island. In ancient times, Sark was almost certainly occupied by the Veneti. These people were subdued by the Roman Empire around 56 BC and the island annexed. After the Roman retreat during the 5th century AD, Sark was probably an outpost of one or other Breton-speaking kingdoms until 933, when it became part of the Duchy of Normandy. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the island was united with the Crown of England. In the 13th century, the French pirate Eustace the Monk, having served King John, used Sark as a base of operations.
During the Middle Ages, the island was populated by monastic communities. By the 16th century, however, it was uninhabited and used by pirates as a refuge and base. In 1565, Helier de Carteret, Seigneur of St. Ouen in Jersey, received letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I granting him Sark as a fief in perpetuity on condition that he kept the island free of pirates and occupied by at least forty of her subjects. This he duly did, installing forty families, mostly from St. Ouen, on the island. A subsequent attempt by the families to endow a constitution under a bailiff, as in Jersey, was stopped by the Guernsey authorities who resented any attempt to wrest Sark from their bailiwick.
Uploaded
June 27th, 2014
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