View source for Jethou

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2019}}
{{short description|Island in Guernsey}}
{{refimprove|date=February 2025}}
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Jethou_024.jpg|thumb|Jethou]] -->
{{Infobox islands
| name             = Jethou
| image_name       = Jethou, island in Channel islands.jpg
| image_caption    = Jethou from [[Herm]]
| image_alt        =
| map_image        = Guernsey-Jethou.png
| map_caption      =  Location of Jethou (red) in the Bailiwick of Guernsey
| location         = 
| coordinates      = {{coord|49|27|30|N|2|27|45|W|region:GG|display=inline,title}}
| archipelago      = [[Channel Islands]]
| waterbody        = [[English Channel]]
| area_acre        = 44
| area_footnotes   =
| coastline_mi     =
| coastline_footnotes =
| elevation_ft     =
| elevation_footnotes =
| highest_mount    =
| country          = [[Bailiwick of Guernsey]]
| country1_admin_divisions_title = Jurisdiction
| country1_admin_divisions = [[Guernsey]]
| population       = 3
| population_as_of = 1996
| population_footnotes = 
| website          =
| additional_info  = {{Infobox
    | child = yes 
    | label1 = Motto
    | data1 = Vigilare et admonere
  }}
| module = {{Designation list
| embed = yes
| designation1 = Ramsar
| designation1_offname = Herm, Jethou and The Humps
| designation1_date = 19 October 2015
| designation1_number = 2277<ref>{{Cite web|title=Herm, Jethou and The Humps|website=[[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/2277|access-date=25 April 2018}}</ref>}}
}}
<mapframe
text="Jethou"
width=230	
height=230	
zoom=12
latitude=49.458333
longitude=-2.4625/>
'''Jethou''' ({{IPAc-en|ʒ|ɛ|ˈ|t|uː}} {{respell|zheh|TOO}}) is a small island that is part of the [[Bailiwick of Guernsey]] in the [[Channel Islands]]. It is privately leased from [[the Crown]], and not open to the public. Resembling the top of a wooded knoll, it is immediately southwest of [[Herm]] and covers approximately {{convert|44|acre|ha}}.

==History==
{{see also|History of Guernsey|Archaeology of the Channel Islands}}

There is evidence of flint manufacturing in an area exposed only at low water between the island and [[Crevichon]] which shows occupation around 10,000 BC.<ref name="HAJ">{{cite book |last=Cataroche |first=Jenny |title=The History and Archaeology of Jethou |publisher=L&C Press |ISBN=9781904332374}}</ref> It is said that in AD 709 a storm washed away the strip of land that connected the island with Herm.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.islandlife.org/Herm.htm |title=Herm Home Page |website=www.islandlife.org |access-date=16 April 2007 |archive-date=16 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150816183442/http://www.islandlife.org/Herm.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Vikings called the island {{lang|non|Keitholm}}.<ref name="BBC08">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/guernsey/content/articles/2004/07/20/jethou_history_feature.shtml |title=Jethou History |publisher=BBC |date=22 April 2008}}</ref> The island's current name retains the related Norman ''[[-hou]]'' suffix, meaning 'small island' or 'small hill'.

In 1416, it became part of [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]'s estate and still remains Crown property, now leased to the States of [[Guernsey]].

On the top is a marker. It is said that in earlier times, pirates were hanged on it with chains, as on nearby [[Crevichon]].

===Modern history===
[[Image:Herm, Sark and Jethou.jpg|left|thumb|330 px|An aerial shot showing Jethou, centre right, next to its bigger neighbour, [[Herm]], with [[Sark]] in the background, and the east coast of [[Guernsey]] in the foreground.]]

In 1867, Lt Colonel Montague Fielden became the island's tenant. However, he was discovered using the island as a storehouse for smuggling [[brandy]] from France.<ref name=BBC08/>

From 1920 to 1934, it was leased by the Scottish novelist [[Compton MacKenzie]], along with [[Herm]], and remained part of that estate for years, although it is currently part of a different one.<ref name=BBC08/>

From September 1964 until December 1971, the island was occupied by the Faed family: Angus Faed, his wife Susan Faed and their four children, Colin, Erik, Colette and Amanda. Mrs Susan Faed was the 22nd tenant of Jethou.<ref name=BBC08/>

In the 1950s and 60s the island was open to the public. During that period [[postage stamp]]s were issued. Local stamps on the [[Bailiwick of Guernsey]] were banned on 1 October 1969, and the Isle of Jethou was closed to the public from 1970.<ref name=stamps>{{cite web |url=http://www.silverdalen.se/stamps/cje98/jethou_about.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422104624/http://www.silverdalen.se/stamps/cje98/jethou_about.htm | archive-date=22 April 2019 |title=Stamps issued from 1960 to 1969 |publisher=silverdalen stamps (SE) |author=Anders Backman |access-date=22 April 2019}}</ref>

In 1972, [[Charles William Hayward|Charles Hayward]], founder of the [[Firth Cleveland]] Group of Companies, purchased the Crown tenancy of the island and lived there with his wife Elsie Darnell George until his death in 1983.

In 1996 the island was leased by [[Peter Ogden (businessman)|Sir Peter Ogden]] of IT company [[Computacenter]].<ref name="Graham">{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/when-killers-came-to-a-rich-mans-playground-1326486.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/when-killers-came-to-a-rich-mans-playground-1326486.html |archive-date=8 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=When killers came to a rich man's playground |last=Graham |first=Bob |date=30 January 1996 |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=24 January 2019}}</ref>

It was recognised in 2016 as an area of international environmental importance under the [[Ramsar Convention]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://guernseypress.com/news/2016/01/28/herm-and-jethou-get-ramsar-status/ |title=Herm and Jethou get Ramsar status |work=[[Guernsey Press]] |date=28 January 2016|access-date= 12 February 2021}}</ref>

It is flanked by two [[islet]]s, [[Crevichon]] to the north and Fauconnière to the south. There is one house on the island and two cottages, as well as a large garage, where vehicles such as [[quad bike]]s and [[tractor]]s are stored.

==Governance==
Unlike the largely autonomous islands of [[Sark]] and [[Alderney]] within the Bailiwick, Jethou is administered entirely by the States of Guernsey.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/ICESCR-report-part1.pdf |title=ICESCR-report-part1 |website=www.justice.gov.uk |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-date=17 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117071111/http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/ICESCR-report-part1.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> It belonged to the Electoral District of Saint Peter Port South,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islandlife.org/guernsey_election2008.htm |title=Guernsey Election of States Deputies, 2008 |publisher=Islandlife.org |date=23 April 2008 |access-date=4 October 2012}}</ref> until the binding [[2018 Guernsey electoral system referendum|2018 referendum]] implemented a single, island-wide constituency of which Jethou was a part of.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Electoral System Referendum (Guernsey) Law, 2018 |url=https://guernseylegalresources.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?documentid=61773 |website=Guernsey Legal Resources |access-date=14 November 2025}}</ref>

==Wildlife==
At the back (east) of Jethou, [[Atlantic puffin|puffins]] can be seen swimming off the rocks.

==Jethou in popular culture==
The British 1957 musical ''[[Free as Air]]'' by [[Dorothy Reynolds]] and [[Julian Slade]] was set on the minor and fictitious Channel Island of 'Terhou', which was based on Jethou.

[[Mary Gentle]]'s 2007 novel ''[[Ilario: The Stone Golem]]'' has a villainous noblewoman exiled to a convent in Jethou.

==See also==
*[[List of tenants of Jethou]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* ''BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names'' ([[Oxford University Press]], 1971) {{ISBN|978-0194311250}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150628221512/http://www.faedfiles.com/faednet/jethou/jethou.htm Jethou homepage] 
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17618 Free Gutenberg Project book, ''Jethou; or, Crusoe Life in the Channel Isles'' by Ernest R. Suffling]
* [http://www.silverdalen.se/stamps/cje98/jethou.htm Stamps from Isle of Jethou] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112230952/http://www.silverdalen.se/stamps/cje98/jethou.htm |date=12 January 2007 }} 1998 Stamps Catalogue by Anders Backman – Freenee
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090913010748/http://www.britlink.org/jethou.html Island of Jethou at Britlink] 

{{Channel Islands}}

[[Category:Bailiwick of Guernsey]]
[[Category:Private islands of the Channel Islands]]
[[Category:Ramsar sites in Guernsey]]