A Brief History of Herm Island Herm Island has enjoyed a colourful history and many vestiges of the past can still be seen. It has been home to Neolithic man, monks, quarrymen, farmers, writers, artists, and wealthy entrepreneurs.
Settlers arrived in the Neolithic and Bronze ages and the revealing remains of their tombs can still be seen. In medieval times the position and solitude of Herm Island held great spiritual appeal for those seeking the monastic life.
Missionary monks visited in the 6th century, including St Tugual, a Celtic missionary for whom the chapel was dedicated.
From the middle 900s to 1569 all the Channel Islands came under the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Normandy. Herm was then handed over by the Norman dukes into the control of Norman monasteries. Monks lived on Herm Island for several centuries.
Between 1570 and 1737 Herm Island was used as a 'playground' for the governors of Guernsey for hunting, shooting and fishing. After 1810 Herm Island became a centre for granite quarrying as Britain entered the industrial revolution. Herm granite is particularly tough so was ideal for road and bridge building. Around this time it was estimated that up to 400 quarrymen were working on the island. Herm's industrial era was over by the late 1800s.
In 1889 Prince Blucher von Wahlstatt, grandson of the famous Prussian field marshall, bought the island lease. He stayed for 26 years and transformed it into his own private kingdom. He left at the outbreak of the 1st World War. Compton Mackenzie, the novelist, was the next resident and represented Herm Island in a fictional manner in his novel Fairy Gold. Mackenzie sold the lease to Sir Percival Perry, a chairman of the Ford Motor Company. It was Perry who actually introduced the first motor car to the island and built a golf course on the common. This rather grand era came to and end with the Second World War when the Channel Islands were occupied by German troops.
The States of Guernsey bought Herm from the UK Crown estates soon after the Second World War. In 1948 the lease was then taken over by an A. G. Jefferies however he was to sell it soon after due to ill health. In 1949 Peter and Jenny Wood took over the lease and immediately set about restoring the island to preserve its natural attractions and peacefulness. Major Peter Wood died in 1998 and his wife Jenny, author of the book "Herm our Island Home" died in 1991. The Island has been managed since 1980 by Adrian Heyworth and his wife Pennie, one of Peter and Jenny's daughters.
PTGH wish to thank Herm Tourism for their help in providing the above information. 22/11/05
