Les Baraques

The military cemetery is located in Sangatte, specifically in Blériot-Plage.
The cemetery has 1,543 identified graves, including 1,300 Commonwealth graves from the First World War, 239 other graves from the First World War and 4 Commonwealth graves from the Second World War.
The cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
In the history of Sangatte, on May 3, 1594, the presidents and general treasurers of the Bureau des Finances, province of Picardy, Boulonnais, Artois and Pays reconquis, made transfer to the poor inhabitants of the parish of Sangatte of 200 measures of the municipality called the Salines. In 1624, barracks were built on this site to receive the plague victims of Calais.

The origin of the Baraques probably dates back to the 17th century. The plague decimated the Calais garrison and the governor ordered the sick soldiers to evacuate the city. The latter will find refuge in “barracks” set up in the dunes. It was here that Father Limousin created the Parish of Baraques and had a church built in 1863 under the name of Notre-Dame de la Salette which became, every year, in September,
a place of pilgrimage, destroyed during the Second World War.
It was after the death of Louis Blériot (August 1, 1936) that the hamlet took the name of the famous aviator, thus commemorating the crossing of the Channel in 1909.