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Alderney
KNOWLEDGE OF Alderney
Alderney (French Aurigny, Auregnais Aoeur'gny) is the most northerly of the Channel Islands and a British crown dependency. It is part of the bailiwick of Guernsey. It is 3 miles (5 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide making it the third largest island of the Channel Islands. It is around 10 miles to the west of La Hague in the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, in France, 20 miles to the north-east of Guernsey and 60 miles from the south coast of England. It is the closest of the Channel Islands to France as well as being the closest to England. It is separated from Cap de la Hague by the dangerous Race of Alderney (Le Raz).
The island has a population of 2400 people, and they are traditionally nicknamed lapins after the number of rabbits seen in the island. The only parish of Alderney is the parish of St Anne, which doubles as the main town, and features a pretty church and cobbled high street. There are a primary school, a secondary school, a post office, hotels, restaurants, banks and shops. Alderney has a somewhat ageing population, being popular with people wanting somewhere quiet to retire.
Alderney shares a history with the other Channel Islands, becoming an island in the Neolithic period as the waters of the Channel rose.
The etymology of the Island's name is obscure. It is known in Latin as Riduna (giving the rarely-used adjective Ridunian for inhabitants of Alderney), but as with the names of the all the Channel Islands in the Roman period there is a degree of confusion. Riduna may be the original name of Tatihou, while Alderney is conjectured to be identified with Sarmia. Alderney/Aurigny is variously supposed to be a Germanic or Celtic name. It may be a corruption of Adreni or Alrene, which is probably derived from an Old Norse word meaning "island near the coast". Alternatively it may derive from three Norse elements: alda (swelling wave, roller), renna (strong current, race) and oy or ey (island).
After choosing independence from France and loyalty to the English monarch in his role as the Duke of Normandy, in 1204, Alderney developed slowly and was not much involved with the rest of the world. That is, however, until the British government decided to undertake massive fortifications in the 19th century and to create a strategic harbour to deter attacks from France. An influx of English and Irish labourers, plus the sizable British garrison stationed in the island, led to rapid anglicization. The harbour was never completed - the remaining breakwater (designed by James Walker) is one of the island's landmarks.
The last of the hereditary Governors, John Le Mesurier, resigned his patent to the Crown in 1825 since when authority has been exercised by the States of Alderney (as amended by the constitutional settlement of 1948).
The island was occupied by German forces during World War II. Before the Nazi Germany troops landed in June 1940, almost the entire Alderney population evacuated, leaving only 2% of the population. The Germans built four concentration camps on the island. Each camp was named after one of the Frisian Islands and included Norderney located at Saye, Borkum at Platte Saline, Sylt near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère, and Heligoland. Each camp was operated by the Nazi Organisation Todt and used forced labour to build bunkers, gun emplacements, air-raid shelters, and concrete fortifications. In 1942, the Norderney camp, containing Russian and Polish POWs, and Sylt camp, holding Jews, were placed under the control of the SS Haupsturmfuhrer Max List. Over 700 of the inmates are said to have lost their lives before the camps were closed and the remaining inmates transferred to Germany in 1944. The German officer left in charge of the facilities, Comandant Oberst Schwalm, burned the camps to the ground and destroyed all records connected with their use before the island was liberated by British forces on May 16, 1945. The German garrison on Alderney surrendered a week after the other Channel Islands, and was the last garrison to surrender in Europe. The population were unable to start returning until December 1945.
For two years after the end of World War II, Alderney was operated as a communal farm. Craftsmen were paid by their employers, while others were paid by the local government out of the profit from the sales of farm produce. Remaining profits were put aside to repay the British Government for repairing and rebuilding the island. Resentment from the local population towards being unable to control their own land acted as a catalyst for the United Kingdom Home Office to set up an enquiry that led to the "Government of Alderney Law 1948", which came into force on 1 January 1949. The law organised the make up and election of the States of Alderney, the justice system and, for the first time in Alderney, the imposition of taxes. Due to the small population of Alderney, it was believed that the island could not be self-sufficient in running the airport and the harbour, as well as in providing services that would match those of the United Kingdom. The taxes were therefore collected into the general Bailiwick of Guernsey revenue funds (at the same rate as Guernsey) and adminstered by the States of Guernsey. Guernsey became responsible for providing many governmental functions and services.
The 20th century saw a lot of change in Alderney, from the building of the airport in the late 1930s to the death of the last speakers of the island's language (Auregnais, a dialect of Norman language). The economy has gone from depending largely on agriculture to earning money from the tourism and finance industries.
The island has a population of 2400 people, and they are traditionally nicknamed lapins after the number of rabbits seen in the island. The only parish of Alderney is the parish of St Anne, which doubles as the main town, and features a pretty church and cobbled high street. There are a primary school, a secondary school, a post office, hotels, restaurants, banks and shops. Alderney has a somewhat ageing population, being popular with people wanting somewhere quiet to retire.
Alderney shares a history with the other Channel Islands, becoming an island in the Neolithic period as the waters of the Channel rose.
The etymology of the Island's name is obscure. It is known in Latin as Riduna (giving the rarely-used adjective Ridunian for inhabitants of Alderney), but as with the names of the all the Channel Islands in the Roman period there is a degree of confusion. Riduna may be the original name of Tatihou, while Alderney is conjectured to be identified with Sarmia. Alderney/Aurigny is variously supposed to be a Germanic or Celtic name. It may be a corruption of Adreni or Alrene, which is probably derived from an Old Norse word meaning "island near the coast". Alternatively it may derive from three Norse elements: alda (swelling wave, roller), renna (strong current, race) and oy or ey (island).
After choosing independence from France and loyalty to the English monarch in his role as the Duke of Normandy, in 1204, Alderney developed slowly and was not much involved with the rest of the world. That is, however, until the British government decided to undertake massive fortifications in the 19th century and to create a strategic harbour to deter attacks from France. An influx of English and Irish labourers, plus the sizable British garrison stationed in the island, led to rapid anglicization. The harbour was never completed - the remaining breakwater (designed by James Walker) is one of the island's landmarks.
The last of the hereditary Governors, John Le Mesurier, resigned his patent to the Crown in 1825 since when authority has been exercised by the States of Alderney (as amended by the constitutional settlement of 1948).
The island was occupied by German forces during World War II. Before the Nazi Germany troops landed in June 1940, almost the entire Alderney population evacuated, leaving only 2% of the population. The Germans built four concentration camps on the island. Each camp was named after one of the Frisian Islands and included Norderney located at Saye, Borkum at Platte Saline, Sylt near the old telegraph tower at La Foulère, and Heligoland. Each camp was operated by the Nazi Organisation Todt and used forced labour to build bunkers, gun emplacements, air-raid shelters, and concrete fortifications. In 1942, the Norderney camp, containing Russian and Polish POWs, and Sylt camp, holding Jews, were placed under the control of the SS Haupsturmfuhrer Max List. Over 700 of the inmates are said to have lost their lives before the camps were closed and the remaining inmates transferred to Germany in 1944. The German officer left in charge of the facilities, Comandant Oberst Schwalm, burned the camps to the ground and destroyed all records connected with their use before the island was liberated by British forces on May 16, 1945. The German garrison on Alderney surrendered a week after the other Channel Islands, and was the last garrison to surrender in Europe. The population were unable to start returning until December 1945.
For two years after the end of World War II, Alderney was operated as a communal farm. Craftsmen were paid by their employers, while others were paid by the local government out of the profit from the sales of farm produce. Remaining profits were put aside to repay the British Government for repairing and rebuilding the island. Resentment from the local population towards being unable to control their own land acted as a catalyst for the United Kingdom Home Office to set up an enquiry that led to the "Government of Alderney Law 1948", which came into force on 1 January 1949. The law organised the make up and election of the States of Alderney, the justice system and, for the first time in Alderney, the imposition of taxes. Due to the small population of Alderney, it was believed that the island could not be self-sufficient in running the airport and the harbour, as well as in providing services that would match those of the United Kingdom. The taxes were therefore collected into the general Bailiwick of Guernsey revenue funds (at the same rate as Guernsey) and adminstered by the States of Guernsey. Guernsey became responsible for providing many governmental functions and services.
The 20th century saw a lot of change in Alderney, from the building of the airport in the late 1930s to the death of the last speakers of the island's language (Auregnais, a dialect of Norman language). The economy has gone from depending largely on agriculture to earning money from the tourism and finance industries.
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