The Chief Pleas building was originally the boys school and was used in 1942 to teach both boys and girls the German language during the Occupation. Chief Pleas, the equivalent of Parliament, originally made up of the Seigneur and the Tenants (owners of the tenements of land) sat for the first time in 1579. They administered justice as Jurats (Justices of Peace) but in 1583 the Chief Pleas acknowledged Guernsey…

The Visitor Centre was originally built as a Girls School by Seigneur Ernest Le Pelley in 1841, completing the project which had been envisaged by his brother Pierre Le Pelley in consultation with his good friend Rev Cachemaille, which was to use to the best advantage for Sark’s community the surplus of money being generated by the new silver mining venture. The School mistress was to be appointed by the…

  La Coupee is an Isthmus (narrow strip of land with sea either side) made up of sedimentary rock. The rock is made up of sediments of various types of rock but is crumbly and the sea is eroding both sides of the this walkway. Until 1900 there were no railings extending the whole length and on windy days the school children would crawl over the crumbling path on their…

The Gouliot Headland is a RAMSAR site (it gained this status on 9th April 2007), recognised worldwide as a Wetland of International importance under the International Ramsar Convention. This recognises and protects the thriving wealth of species of this special Marine environment. The Gouliot Caves, a large sea cave system on the Sark side of the Gouliot passage. Gouliot caves lie to the right of the small headland which is…

250FT DROP – WARNING In the 1850s, Rev Collings was Seigneur of Sark. He inherited the title from his Mother Marie in 1853. His mother brought the Fief in 1852 from Pierre Le Pelley (The 2nd one) who was forced to sell to repay the debts of his father. Debts which accrued through the folly to mine Silver. He encouraged this further, seeing the benefit of having additional revenue stream….

Today’s main house dates from 1675 and has been home to two of Sark’s three Seigneurial families: the Le Pelleys (from 1730) and the Collings (from 1852), ancestors of our current Seigneur Because the Seigneurie, residence of the Seigneur, in 1730 when Susanne Le Pelley became the Dame of Sark. Rather then move to the Manoir she chose to stay in her own residence, La Perronnerie. She gave Le Manoir…

The original entrance to the bay was blasted through the rock in 1588 and is still in the same position today.  The main entrance that we now use, along with the protective harbour wall was not built until 1866.  This harbour allowed easy access to Jersey which was important in the 16th century as our Seigneur originated from St Ouen in Jersey. Creux harbour is mainly used by local fishermen…

Helier de Carteret found the ruins of this property when he landed on Sark in 1563. He rebuilt this property and carved his coat of arms into the stone just below the roof in the top left hand corner of the main house. The cottages to the right were built by Helier as servants quarters. Le Manoir remained the residence of the Seigneur on the island until 1730 and The…

L’Eperquerie Common is the open healthland on the top of the northern headland. The monks (present on Sark between the 6th and 14th centuries) used the openness of the Common to dry their fish and conger eels on wooden stakes. The old Norman French word for the stake was ‘perques’, giving the headland its name. The Eperquerie Landing was the main port until Creux harbour was opened up in 1588….

Sark Windmill 1571 Until the 20th century, Sark’s economy was based on grain;  reliable mill was essential. Domestic handmills (like the pot quern at La Seigneurie) were small and inefficient, and the monks’ water mill above Port du Moulin could not serve forty settler families. Within six years of obtaining Queen Elizabeth’s grant of Sark (1565), Helier De Carteret built a windmill. The DE Carteret arms carved on the north…