Bray Vale British Cemetery, Bray-Sur-Somme

Location information

Bray-sur-Somme is a village and commune in the Department of the Somme, 8 kilometres south-east of Albert and 16 kilometres west of Peronne. Bray Vale British Cemetery is on the east side of the town of Albert.

The cemetery is signposted, on the D329, along with Grove Town Cemetery.

Visiting information

ARRIVAL

The cemetery is located on a dead-end paved track off the D329 Av. Georges Duhamel, north of the village of Bray Sur Somme., approximately 1 kilometre from the junction of the track and the D329.

PARKING

It is possible to park along the front of the cemetery at the side of the road.

There is a layby area within 2 metres of the main entrance and steps up to the burial area. The ground is flat and firm with a compacted red gravel surface.

ACCESS LAYOUT AND MAIN ENTRANCE

The cemetery is divided over 3 levels going up a steep slope away from the access track.

From the side of the road and the parking area, the main entrance of the cemetery has a central stone platform in front of a stone wall. Each side of the platform has a set of stone steps, one to the left, the other to the right leading up to a small stone platform. Additional steps lead up to a paved area at the top of the two sets of stairs. There is a vertical drop at the edge closest to the road with no barrier. The paving is level with the grass inside the cemetery.

In the centre of the cemetery is a steep grass bank, with a level change of approximately 1.2 metres up to the second tier of the cemetery. A flight of seven stone steps is located in the bank, in line with the entrance feature and the Cross of Sacrifice at the rear of the site. There are no handrails.

At the rear of the cemetery is a raised platform, accessible via two sets of steps (each with two steps), located on either side of the platform to the right and left of the Cross of Sacrifice.

There is a low-level wall running the width of the platform, with a drop of approximately 0.3 metres from the upper level.

Two stone shelter buildings are located on the top platform, with one on either side of the Cross of Sacrifice. There is a stone bench located inside each of the shelter buildings, on stone floor level with the grass,

The Register Box is built into the front entrance wall between the two sets of steps.

ALTERNATIVE ACCESS

On the far-left side of the cemetery at the front of the cemetery, is a steep grass ramp leading up to the cemetery. The ramp is approximately 1.2 metres wide.

Access beyond the first level requires the use of steps.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cemetery is permanently open.

History information

Bray-sur-Somme fell into German hands in March 1918, but it was retaken by the 40th Australian Battalion on the following 24 August.

Bray Vale British Cemetery (called at one time Bray No.2 British Cemetery) consisted originally of the 25 graves (of August 1918) in Plot II, Row A, but it was enlarged soon after the Armistice when further graves were brought in from the neighbourhood. In 1923 the space between the cemetery and the road, now Plots III and IV, was filled by graves brought in mainly from the battlefields of 1916 round Thiepval and Courcelette.

The cemetery contains 279 First World War burials, 172 of them unidentified.

The cemetery was designed by A J S Hutton.