Sark resident Dr Richard Axton has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours list for his services to Sark’s heritage and environment. Richard first came to the island in 1980 with his late wife Marine to work on the Seigneurie archive during holidays from his position as Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge. The work continued for 20 years during which time the couple decided to move to Sark on their retirement. It also inspired a deep passion in Richard for Sark’s heritage and he went on to lead projects to renovate and protect many of the island’s historic buildings including the windmill, the old girls’ school (which is now the Visitor Centre and Société Sercquaise Heritage Room) and the Cider Barn. In 2004 he raised the funds to bring over a team of archaeologists to Sark from Oxford University led by Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, a project that continued annually until the pandemic and revealed much the island’s ancient history.

In 2015 Richard created Sark Henge to commemorate 450 years since the creation of the Fief of Sark when Helier de Carteret settled the island with forty families. He has also been involved with countless projects to promote and protect Sark’s cultural heritage and environment. Most recently he has been the driving force behind the creation of a community dairy for Sark that is set to be producing milk this July.

Richard will be presented with his MBE by the Lieutenant-Governor Sir Ian Corder here on Sark later this summer.