Berneval-le-Grand is a former

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of

Petit-Caux Petit-Caux is a commune in the department of Seine-Maritime, northern France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2016 by merger of the 18 former communes of Saint-Martin-en-Campagne, Assigny, Auquemesnil, Belleville-sur-Mer, Berneval ...

.Arrêté préfectoral
26 November 2015

Geography

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

village in the

Pays de Caux The Pays de Caux (, , literally ''Land of Caux'') is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French ''département'' of Seine Maritime in Normandy. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs ...

, situated on the cliff-lined coast of the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

some northeast of

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newha ...

, at the junction of the D54 and D113 roads.

History

On the morning of 19 August 1942, the beach at Berneval was one of the landing locations of the Anglo-Canadian

raid on Dieppe Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, s ...

. 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.

Heraldry

Population

Places of interest

* The church of Notre-Dame, rebuilt, as was most of the village, after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The original church, dating back to the 13th century, was destroyed on 3 June 1944 by Allied bombers.

Notable people linked to the commune

* After his release from

Reading Prison HM Prison Reading, popularly known as Reading Gaol, is a former prison located in Reading, Berkshire, England. The prison was operated by His Majesty's Prison Service until its closure at the start of 2014. It is a Grade II listed building and ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

stayed in Berneval in June 1897. He was accompanied by his friend and future literary executor, the Canadian journalist, art critic and art dealer Robert Ross. Most of his former friends abandoned him, but

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

came to meet him at the Hôtel de la Plage (destroyed during the Second World War). He found Wilde a broken man, still a prisoner in his soul despite his freedom. In Berneval, Wilde wrote ''

The Ballad of Reading Gaol ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'' is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand, after his release from Reading Gaol () on 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading after being convicted of gross indecency with other ...

''. * Edward Vincent Loustalot, regarded as the first American soldier killed by the Germans in the Second World War, died here on 19 August 1942. * During the 1970s, a large part of

Walerian Borowczyk Walerian Borowczyk (21 October 1923 – 3 February 2006) was an internationally known Polish film director described by film critics as a 'genius who also happened to be a pornographer'. He directed 40 films between 1946 and 1988. Borowczyk sett ...

's film, '' Les Contes immoraux'' (Eng: ''Immoral Tales''), was made in Berneval in the Grand Hôtel, Avenue du Capitaine-Porthéous. *

Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...

Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). Hi ...

and

Hippolyte Camille Delpy Hippolyte Camille Delpy (1842–1910) was a French painter. He came from a moderately wealthy family from Joigny, in the Burgundy region of France. His son, (1877–1957), also became a painter, as did a cousin on his father's side, (1898–1 ...

, among others, painted landscapes in Berneval-le-Grand. Thatched Cottage in Berneval.jpg, Delpy :
''Chaumière à Berneval''. Pierre-Auguste Renoir - La Moisson.jpg,

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...