Sark Henge is a modern

henge monument There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...

on the island of

Sark Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of 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 l ...

, in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. It was constructed in 2015.

History

Sark Henge was built in 2015, to commemorate the 450 year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth granting the fief of Sark to

Hellier de Carteret Hellier de Carteret ( fl. 1563 – 1578) was the first Seigneur of Sark, reigning from 1563 to 1578. He was the son of Édouard de Carteret, Seigneur of Saint Ouen (d. 1533), and grandson of Philip de Carteret, 8th Seigneur of St Ouen. It was He ...

in 1565. It is located near Point Derrible.

Design

Nine one-eyed giant stones of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

granite form a ring around a stone disc. The stone disc symbolises the

Seigneur of Sark The Seigneur of Sark is the head of Sark in the Channel Islands. "Seigneur" is the French word for "lord", and a female head of Sark is called Dame of Sark, of which there have been three. The husband of a female ruler of Sark is not a consort b ...

greeting and thanking their settler ancestors; nine is the number of territories in which de Carteret's 40 tenements were sited, and the circle divides by 40, giving 9 degrees to each of the 40 men gathered about their lord. The solstice line SE / NW marks winter sunrise / summer sunset. The henge stones were previously gateposts around the island. The henge monument was designed by historian Richard Axton.

References

{{Authority control Sark Henges