Brecqhou is one of the Channel Islands and part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It is located just west of Sark and has a surface area of approximately 200 acres (0.81 km2). Sark claims it as a tenement, and the Ministry of Justice, the department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for the Channel Islands, considers Brecqhou part of Sark – but this is disputed by Brecqhou’s current tenants.
Since 1929, the island of Brecqhou is connected to the title of the tenement La Moinerie de Haut, one of the 40 tenements whose owner had to keep a gun for the defence of the fief and, until 2008, had a seat in Chief Pleas. Originally, La Moinerie de Haut, named after the medieval monastery whose site is close to it, was a parcel of land in the north west of Sark that was, at that time, owned by the Seigneur himself. When Sibyl Hathaway sold the island of Brecqhou to Angelo Clarke in 1929, she transferred the seat in Chief Pleas connected to this parcel to Brecqhou. This was no greater loss for her, as she owned more than one tenement and every member of Chief Pleas was entitled to only one vote.
Since 1993 the tenement of Brecqhou has been owned by the Barclay brothers, the co-owners of The Daily Telegraph newspaper and former co-owners of The Scotsman. Under the Reform (Sark) Law 1951, the tenant is David Barclay. Since the purchase the Barclays have been in several legal disputes with the government of Sark, and have expressed a desire to make Brecqhou politically independent from Sark. They drive cars on the island, and have a helicopter, both of which are banned under Sark law.
The former tenant, Leonard Joseph Matchan, had devised a personal flag (identical to the Sark flag, with the exception that the Matchan arms was emblazoned on the bottom right). Although frequently considered the island flag, this was only a personal flag, and is not in use any more.
Leonard Joseph Matchan had issued stamps in 1969. Matchan occupied Brecqhou until his death on October 6, 1987. The current tenants have issued postage stamps annually since 1999.
