34 Facts About Sark

Sark is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France.

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 remaining 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.

Little Sark had a number of mines accessing a source of galena.

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Sark is made up mainly of amphibolite and granite gneiss rocks, intruded by igneous magma sheets called quartz diorite.

All the Sark rocks formed during geological activity in the continental crust above an ancient subduction zone.

Sark is probably first mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary 3rd – 4th century AD together with the other main Channel Islands as Sarnia, Caesarea, Barsa, Silia and Andium, but it is unclear to which it refers.

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.

Sark's 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, Oye-Plage and Ile-d'Yeu .

In 933, Sark was included in the Duchy of Normandy, based on the traditional boundaries of the Lugdunensis secunda and the archbishopric of Rouen.

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 of the new regime.

Sark was finally liberated on 10 May 1945, a full day after Guernsey.

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

Until 2008, Sark's parliament was a single chamber consisting of 54 members, comprising the Seigneur, the Seneschal, 40 owners of the tenements and 12 elected deputies.

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 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.

In October 2015 Sark's observatory was officially opened by Marek Kukula, public astronomer from the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

Sark belongs to the Crown in its own right and has an independent relationship with the Crown through the Lieutenant Governor in Guernsey.

Sark has its own United Nations Standard Country or Area Code for Statistical Use .

Sark has its own separate ISO issued Country Code CQ even though it is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

The last clameur recorded on Sark was raised in June 1970 to prevent the construction of a garden wall.

Since 2009 a resident of Sark has operated a weekly online newspaper called The Sark Newspaper .

In 2014 over 50 residents of Sark filed complaints with the police about accusations made by the paper.

Sark has no company registry and relies on Guernsey's financial services commission.

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Sark is fiscally autonomous from Guernsey, and consequently has control over how it raises taxes.

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.

Isle of Sark Shipping Company operates small ferries from Sark to St Peter Port, Guernsey.

Sark has a small police station and jail, with two cells available.

Sark 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.

Resident doctor provides healthcare on Sark, and is available to attend accidents and emergencies.

Sark competes in the biennial Island Games in which the Sark football team has participated.

Carl Hester, who was brought up in Sark, won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Individual and Team Dressage events.