Brecqhou

Brecqhou (or Brechou; French pronunciation: ​[bʁɛku]) is one of the Channel Islands, located just west of Sark. Brecqhou is a British Crown Dependency, and is both part of Sark and part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It has been established in the courts that Brecqhou is a tenement of Sark. The Ministry of Justice, the department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for the Channel Islands, considers Brecqhou part of Sark.

The name Brecqhou derives from the Old Norse brekka (slope or escarpment; cf. Bricquebec) and holmr (island or islet; see -hou).

A mere islet, Brecqhou has a surface area of just 74 acres (30 ha). The island is separated from Sark by an extremely narrow sound (Le Goulliot Passage) which, according to legend, has only once been traversed by boat in a high tide. However, in reality it is traversed frequently by yachts during each summer and by fishing boats year round and even forms a part of the route taken by occasional powerboating events in the islands.

An aerial view of Brecqhou.

A view of Brecqhou, from the north of Sark

The Barclay Brothers' recently built mansion on Brecqhou

A view of Brecqhou, from the south east.

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. The landholdings of Sark are held by 40 tenants representing the parcels of the 40 families who colonised Sark. As explained on the Sark government website: "There is no true freehold, all land being held on perpetual lease (fief) from the Seigneur, and the 40 properties (Tenements) into which the Island is divided (as well as a few other holdings in perpetual fief) can only pass by strict rules of inheritance or by sale." The relevance of the Seigneurial privileges and of the obligations that distinguish "feudal" from "civil" landowning has decreased, most of the obligations being connected to agriculture and defence.

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