The
Bailiwick of Guernsey (pronounced
/'g?rnzi/;
French Bailliage de Guernesey) is a
British Crown Dependency in the
English Channel off the coast of
Normandy.
As well as the island of Guernsey itself, it also includes Alderney, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou, Burhou, Lihou, Sark and other islets. Although the defence of all these islands is the responsibility of the United Kingdom[2], the Bailiwick of Guernsey is not part of the U.K. but rather a separate possession of the Crown, comparable to the Isle of Man. Guernsey is also not part of the European Union. The island of Guernsey is divided into 10 parishes. Together with the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey is included in the collective grouping known as the Channel Islands. Guernsey belongs to the Common Travel Area.
Rising sea levels transformed Guernsey first into the tip of a peninsula jutting out into the emergent English Channel, then, around 6000 BC, into an island when it and other promontories were cut off from continental Europe.[3]
At this time, Neolithic farmers settled the coasts and created the dolmens and menhirs that dot the islands. The island of Guernsey contains three sculpted menhirs of great archaeological interest; the dolmen known as L'Autel du Dehus also contains a dolmen deity known as Le Gardien du Tombeau.[4]
