Lihou
Lihou and the nearby L'Eree headland of Guernsey
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Lihou is on the far left of the map
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| Geography | |
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| Coordinates | 49°27′38.16″N 2°40′4.44″W / 49.4606000°N 2.6679000°WCoordinates: 49°27′38.16″N 2°40′4.44″W / 49.4606000°N 2.6679000°W |
| Archipelago | Channel Islands |
| Adjacent bodies of water | English Channel |
| Area | 36 acres (15 ha) |
| Administration | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
| Additional information | |
| Official website | www |
Lihou (/ˈliːuː/) is a small tidal island located just off the west coast of the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel, between Great Britain and France. Administratively, Lihou forms part of the Parish of St. Peter's in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and is now owned by the Parliament of Guernsey (officially known as the States of Guernsey), although there have been a number of owners in the past. Since 2006, the island has been jointly managed by the Guernsey Environment Department and the Lihou Charitable Trust. In the past the island was used by locals for the collection of seaweed for use as a fertiliser, but today Lihou is mainly used for tourism, including school trips. Lihou is also an important centre for conservation, forming part of a Ramsar wetland site for the preservation of rare birds and plants as well as historic ruins of a priory and a farmhouse.
In common with several nearby islands such as Jethou and Brecqhou, the name contains the Norman suffix "-hou" which means a small hill or a mound. The name could have developed from the Breton words lydd or ligg, which means in or near water. Historically, there have also been a number of alternative forms of the name including Lihoumel, which was attested as early as the twelfth century, and Lehowe, which was mentioned in the sixteenth century.
Lihou is also a common family name on Guernsey, with records suggesting that the name has been in use in the Channel Islands since at least the eighteenth century, including Royal Navy Captain John Lihou, who discovered and named the Australian Port Lihou Island and Lihou Reef. The name is also attested further afield, in a number of other countries such as Australia, where for example, Sergeant James Lihou, the son of a migrant from Guernsey, enlisted in the Australian forces in 1916 and was killed in action in 1918 in France. There are also numerous instances of people with the surname having migrated from the Channel Islands to the United States.
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Wikipedia