Brecqhou

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Brecqhou

Brecqhou (or Brechou; pronounced ) is one of the Channel Islands

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are a group of islands in the English Channel, off the France coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey....
and part of the Bailiwick

Bailiwick

A bailiwick is the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff. The term was also applied to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal imperial writ....
of Guernsey

Guernsey

The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Isles Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.As well as the island of Guernsey itself, it also includes Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou, Burhou, Lihou and other islets....
.

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Encyclopedia

Brecqhou (or Brechou; pronounced ) is one of the Channel Islands

Channel Islands

Bailiwick

Guernsey

Sark

Sark is a small island in the southwestern English Channel. It is one of the Channel Islands, is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and as such is a British crown dependency....
and has a surface area of approximately . Sark claims it as a tenement, but these claims are disputed by the current tenants.

Name

The origin of the name is as follows: -hou
-hou

-hou is a suffix found commonly in Channel Islands and Normandy names. It is the Norman language version of the Old Norse holmr, meaning a small island, and often found anglicised elsewhere as "holm"....
as found in many island names around the Norman coast derives from Old Norse language holm (island or islet); brekka signifies a cliff or escarpment (cf. Bricquebec

Bricquebec

Bricquebec, a Communes of France in the Manche Departments of France in Normandy in northwestern France.Inhabitants are referred to as Bricqueb?tais....
).

Geography

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.

Tenants

Since 1993 the tenement of Brecqhou has been owned by the Barclay brothers

David and Frederick Barclay

Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay are British businessmen. The identical twin brothers have very substantial business interests primarily in media, retail and property....
, the co-owners of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1855. Excepting the Financial Times and The Herald , it is the only remaining national daily newspaper printed on traditional newsprint in the broadsheet format in the United Kingdom, as most other broadsheet publications have converted to the smaller tabloid/Compa...
newspaper and former co-owners of The Scotsman
The Scotsman

The Scotsman is a Scotland national newspaper, published in Edinburgh.It has an audited circulation of 53,513. This represents a significant drop from an approximately 100,000 circulation in the 1980s....
. Under the Reform (Sark) Law 1951, the tenant is David Barclay who is entitled to occupy the tenant's seat in Chief Pleas, the parliament of Sark. Since the purchase the Barclays have been in several legal disputes with the government of Sark, and have expressed a desire to make Brecqhou politically independent

Independence

Independence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
from Sark. They drive cars on the island, and have a helicopter, both of which are banned under Sark law.

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."

1966–1987: Leonard Joseph Matchan
Leonard Joseph Matchan

Leonard Joseph Matchan - was the Tenant of Brecqhou in the English Channel from 1966 until his death. Mr Matchan was associated with the cosmetics firm Max Factor....
From 1993: Sir David Barclay
David and Frederick Barclay

Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay are British businessmen. The identical twin brothers have very substantial business interests primarily in media, retail and property....

Flag and stamps

The former tenant, Leonard Joseph Matchan

Leonard Joseph Matchan

Leonard Joseph Matchan - was the Tenant of Brecqhou in the English Channel from 1966 until his death. Mr Matchan was associated with the cosmetics firm Max Factor....
, had devised a personal flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or Mast , generally used symbolically for signaling or identification. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium....
(identical to the Sark

Sark

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning Coat of arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms....
was emblazoned on the bottom right). Although frequently considered the island flag, this was only a personal flag, and is not in use any more.

Leonard Joseph Matchan

Leonard Joseph Matchan

Leonard Joseph Matchan - was the Tenant of Brecqhou in the English Channel from 1966 until his death. Mr Matchan was associated with the cosmetics firm Max Factor....
had issued stamps in 1969. Matchan occupied Brecqhou until his death on October 6, 1987. The current tenants have issued postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is adhesive paper evidence of a fee paid for Mail services. Usually a small rectangle attached to an envelope, the stamp signifies the person sending it has fully or partly paid for delivery....
s annually since 1999.