The Islets
Houmet Benest/Benêt is about two hundred yards (180 m) from the shore, preceded by a small rock called "Hommet" from the same root. It is triangular, and 80 × 50 yards (73 × 45 m). There is an 18th century gun battery here, to defend against the French. The German occupation added their own, and the British another after the Germans left. The steamer Clarrie sank off Houmet Benêt in 1921, in the Great Roussel. Heathery Brae in 1952 tried to salvage it, but ended up being wrecked itself, and there are also the wrecks of Vixen (a brig), Rescue (a tug) and Romp (a cutter) went ashore here. It is covered in grass and brambles.
Houmet Paradis, the fictional Gilliat's home, was originally known as Houmet de l'Eperquerie, as it was used for fish gutting, and drying on stands known as perques (perches). It was formerly owned by the Collas family, whose estate at Paradis, gave the islet its new name. In the 1920s, it was used for quarrying, and it was also used for grazing cattle, and has a lot of grass. In 1951 it was sold to James Watson of Newcastle upon Tyne for the sum of £500 who placed the island under the stewardship of the National Trust of Guernsey. It remained within the family until 2004 when it was sold at auction by James Watson's grandson (also called James Watson and resident of Alderney) to a local consortium with the intention of maintaining the island as a nature reserve.
Hommetol, more commonly called Omptolle by the Ordnance Survey etc., is used for gathering ormer. It is mostly covered in thrift.
Read more about this topic: Houmets