Berneval-le-Grand

Berneval-le-Grand
Berneval-le-Grand
Location within Upper Normandy region Berneval-le-Grand
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Seine-Maritime
Arrondissement	Dieppe
Canton	Dieppe-Est
Intercommunality	Petit Caux
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Patrice Philippe
Area1	5.56 km2 (2.15 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	1,198
• Density	220/km2 (560/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	76081 / 76370
Elevation	0–110 m (0–361 ft) (avg. 104 m or 341 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Berneval-le-Grand is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.

Geography

A farming village in the Pays de Caux, situated on the cliff-lined coast of the English Channel some 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Dieppe, at the junction of the D54 and D113 roads.

History

After his release from Reading prison, Oscar Wilde came to stay at Berneval in June 1897. He was accompanied by his friend (and future literary executor), the Canadian journalist, art critic and art dealer Robert Ross. André Gide met him at the Hotel de la Plage (destroyed during the Second World War). Here, Wilde wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

On the morning of 19 August 1942, the beach at Berneval was one of the landing locations of the Anglo-Canadian raid on Dieppe. No. 3 Commando landed on "Yellow 1", the beach of Petit Berneval, but got stuck at the top of the cliffs, unable to fulfil their mission. Most were killed or captured, only one managed to escape by swimming back to the boats. Those who landed on "Yellow 2", at the Fond de Belleville, crossed the fields and attacked the gun emplacements, preventing the German gunners aiming at the beaches of Dieppe where the bulk of the landings took place. They all were able to escape by the same route and return to Newhaven.

In the 1960s, a large part of Walerian Borowczyk’s film, Immoral Tales, was set in Berneval’s Grand Hotel, on the Avenue du Capitain Porthéous.

Heraldry

The arms of Berneval-le-Grand are blazoned : Azure, a pale lozengy argent and gules, between, in bend 2 garbs of wheat Or, and in bend sinister 2 ships argent.

Population

Historical population of Berneval-le-Grand

Year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006
Population	641	666	760	893	998	1047	1198
From the year 1962 on: No double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once.

Places of interest

• The church of Notre-Dame, rebuilt, as was most of the village, after World War II.

See also

• Communes of the Seine-Maritime department
• Seine-Maritime
• Normandy

References

• INSEE

External links

• Berneval-le-Grand on the Quid website (French)