En Voyage - Issue #8
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PILCHER MONUMENT<br />
IMAGES COURTESY OF SARK.CO.UK<br />
SARK WINDMILL<br />
DATED 1571<br />
LOCATED IN BIG SARK<br />
Put on some walking shoes or hire a bike to discover<br />
more vestiges of Sark’s past. The island has a windmill,<br />
a heritage room hosting archaeological finds,<br />
a museum mainly dedicated to the Occupation, the<br />
smallest working prison in the world and brand new<br />
Sark Henge, located on the south coast of Big Sark.<br />
Little Sark is home to the remains of the Silver Mines,<br />
an enterprise that was prompted by the discovery<br />
of copper and silver deposits in 1833 but doomed<br />
when no precious<br />
minerals were found.<br />
PUT ON SOME<br />
WALKING SHOES<br />
OR HIRE A BIKE<br />
TO DISCOVER<br />
MORE VESTIGES<br />
OF SARK'S PAST<br />
Pilcher Monument rises<br />
up above Havre Gosselin<br />
on Sark’s west coast and a<br />
sad story lies behind its<br />
existence: in October 1868<br />
a group of five men,<br />
including Agnew Giffard,<br />
engineer-in-charge of the<br />
recently completed<br />
breakwater at Creux<br />
harbour, set off to Guernsey in a small boat, although<br />
they had been told that the poor weather and<br />
approaching darkness would make their crossing<br />
dangerous. A storm broke and darkness suddenly fell,<br />
and all the men perished. One of them, Dr Gatehouse,<br />
was never found but the body of Mr Pilcher, a London<br />
oil merchant, came ashore on the Isle of Wight two<br />
months later. The monument was erected by Pilcher’s<br />
widow; it was made from Guernsey granite by Henry’s<br />
Monumental Masons in the Bordage, St Peter Port.<br />
SARK HENGE AT DAWN<br />
OLYMPIC GOLD<br />
Sark’s more recent history is celebrated by<br />
its only postbox, which was painted gold<br />
in homage to dressage champion Carl<br />
Hester, following his team’s gold win at the<br />
2012 Olympics. Like most other Bailiwick<br />
postboxes, it had previously been blue,<br />
and it was originally intended that it would<br />
remain gold for four years, until the next<br />
Olympics. However, the golden postbox is<br />
so popular that there are no plans for it to<br />
return to its former colour, so it will remain<br />
as a lasting legacy to Carl’s achievements.<br />
CARL HESTER AND SARK'S GOLDEN POSTBOX<br />
26 <strong>En</strong> <strong>Voyage</strong> | Aurigny’s Magazine
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