The Pays de Bray (, literally ''Land of Bray'') is a small (about 750 km²)

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

situated to the north-east of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, straddling the French departments of 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-Inf� ...

and the

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

(historically divided among the Provinces of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

and Picardy since 911, now divided among the administrative regions of

and Picardy). The landscape is of bocage, a land use which arises from its

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

soil, and is suited to the development of pasture for the raising of dairy cattle. It produces famous

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

s and

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

s such as Neufchâtel.info site on the Pays de Bray.

Etymology

Etymologically, the name of ''Bray'' comes from the

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

word ''braco'', which became the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

''bray'', meaning "marsh", "swamp", or "mud". The area appears to be so named as the soil distinguishes it from the neighbouring

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 cl ...

; the sticky clay is quite different from the dry, firm chalk of the Pays de Caux.

Geology

Viewed Geology, geologically, the Pays de Bray is a relatively small eroded anticline along the Bray fault, breaking through rocks on the fringe of the Parisian Basin, which forms the chalk

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

s around it. It is a smaller version of the Weald of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, but reveals the beds more deeply; down to the Upper

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

clay. To the north is the Upper

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

plateau of Picardy with the

to the west and the Vexin to the south-east. The erosion has exposed clay beds in an elliptically-shaped region which is called the ''buttonhole'' of the Pays de Bray. A "boutonnière" (buttonhole), in French geological language, is an eroded anticline. This is why the Pays de Bray's outline is shaped as a buttonhole, marked as it is with surrounding escarpments of 60 to 100 metres in height, making it a distinct physical and cultural entity. The Pays de Bray is rich in springs and several watercourses rise there; notably the Epte and the Andelle, tributaries of the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

. The Béthune and the Eaulne flow into the Arques which enters the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

at Dieppe. Among the most notable springs are those of Forges-les-Eaux ("Forges-the-Waters") which gave it and its surroundings the renown of a spa. As a result of its clay-rich soil, the traditional building style of the Pays de Bray is of cob (sometimes changed to brick since the 19th) and tile throughout, showing wattle and daub structures.

The cross-Channel geological structure

The Bray Fault is part of the Lizard front which is represented also in The Lizard and

Start Point, Devon Start Point is a promontory in the South Hams district in Devon, England, . Close to the most southerly point in the county, it marks the southern limit of Start Bay, which extends northwards to the estuary of the River Dart. The rocks of th ...

. It is also part of the anticline which lies to the south of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. The chalk of that island's central ridge is cognate with that of the Pays de Bray's northern escarpment. The syncline to the north of the Isle of Wight underlies the Hampshire Basin and rises in the next anticline to form Salisbury Plain and the Wealden ridge of which the territory of Boulogne-sur-Mer, the Boulonnais is the equivalent feature in

. The syncline of south Hampshire is represented by the bay and département of Somme. Fundamentally, the Bray fault dates from the late

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

and Early Permian but the effect in

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, of its associated earth movements, has quietly continued so as to gently fold the overlying

and

strata.

Geography

The main towns of the Pays de Bray are Neufchâtel-en-Bray, Forges-les-Eaux and

Gournay-en-Bray Gournay-en-Bray (, before 1962: ''Gournay'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in north-western France. Geography A ...

. It is primarily an agricultural region. Its "brand" products are its three AOC, Neufchâtel cheese, the cider spirit, Calvados and Normandy pommeau. The famous local speciality of fromage frais called petit Suisse was launched from a farm near

; Charles Gervais set up his first factory at Ferrières-en-Bray and his second one at Neufchâtel-en-Bray (closed in 2009).

Communications

Road

The Pays de Bray is served by several axial roads: * From south-east to northwest the "route départmentale" (D road) D 915 (former route nationale 15), the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

-to- Dieppe. * From north-east to south-west, the A28 autoroute (motorway or turnpike), joining Abbeville to

and

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

. * From east to west, the route nationale 31 which joins

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

and

by Beauvais. * From east to west, the A29 autoroute which joins Saint-Quentin and

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

and

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

Rail

The rail network is reduced to two lines. The main one, electrified, joins Rouen-Rive-Droite to

. The second was joining between gare de Paris-Saint-Lazare and Dieppe ''via'' Pontoise but is closed between Serqueux (where it meets the first one) and Dieppe.

Adjoining natural regions

(to the west) * Vexin normand (to the south) * Pays de Thelle (to the south-east) * Beauvaisis (to the east) * Petit-Caux (to the north)

References

Sources

*French Wikipedia article: Pays de Bray *BRGM ''Carte géologique de la France à l'échelle du millionième'' 6th edition. (2003)

External links

Cultural & tourism association of the Normandy part of the Pays de Bray
The English version is not yet running.
Site about Neufchâtel-en-Bray
The English version is not yet running. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pays De Bray Geography of Normandy Natural regions of France