History of the villages of the former Courtelary district (Bern)
The 32 documented localities of the former Courtelary district, in the canton of Bern. Each page covers the origin of the name, the main stages of its history and its remains, with sources.
Towns and villages 26
Corgémont
From 1450 to 1880 the tile works of Corgémont enjoyed a strong reputation. The village keeps the church of Saint-Valier, built in 1379 and rebuilt in 1766.
BECormoret
On 5 September 1885 Cormoret switched on the first electric public street lighting network in Switzerland.
BECortébert
In 1959 the fire that destroyed the large school built in 1872 also wiped out Cortébert's municipal archives. Three years later Cortébert Watch, founded in 1865, closed.
BECourtelary
In 1606 the prince-bishop of Basel installed the bailiffs of Erguël here, in a new castle that is now the prefecture. Since 1935 Courtelary has also made Camille Bloch chocolate.
BEFrinvillier
In 1765 the fief of Frinvillier, at the northern entrance of the Taubenloch gorge, had four mills, a stamping mill and a wire-drawing works.
BELa Ferrière
In 1590 settlers from the lordship of Valangin founded on the « Hautes Montagnes d'Erguël » the community that would take the name La Ferrière.
BELa Heutte
La Heutte owes its name to a glassworks, the « Hütte ». The one at Le Van, recorded in 1370 north of the village, is a cultural property of national importance.
BELa Reuchenette
On 1 January 1655 the blast furnace that Prince-Bishop Johann Franz von Schönau had built at La Reuchenette was fired. Cement took over here in 1890.
BELes Prés-d'Orvin
Les Prés-d'Orvin had 181 chalets in 1950 and 339 in 1998. Their first ski lift ran from the winter of 1954-1955, when no bus yet came up from Biel.
BEMont-Tramelan
In 1942 Mont-Tramelan made German its official language. The decision, contrary to the territoriality principle, fuelled the Jura question.
BE · TownOrvin
On 28 February 1352 Orvin received a roll of franchises. Revised into a customary in 1643, the text governed the lordship until the end of the Ancien Régime.
BEPéry
Péry appears in 884 among the possessions of the abbey of Moutier-Grandval, with a chapel of Saint James. The church of 1706 stands on its site.
BE · Merger 2015Péry-La Heutte
On 30 March 2014 Péry approved the merger by 82.2 % and La Heutte by 90.3 %. Péry-La Heutte was born on 1 January 2015, six years after the Rondchâtel plan failed.
BEPlagne
In the night of 20 to 21 October 1862 a fire destroyed 21 houses and the whole centre of Plagne, which was then rebuilt.
BERenan
On 1 March 1848 Ami Girard and a corps of volunteers set out from Renan to take part in the Neuchâtel revolution.
BERomont (BE)
Part of the district of Büren until 1839, Romont then moved to the district of Courtelary, and later left the parish of Perles for that of Vauffelin.
BESaint-Imier
In 1872 the congress of the Fédération jurassienne held at Saint-Imier gave birth to the anti-authoritarian International. Five years earlier the Longines factory had started production here.
BE · Merger 2014Sauge
On 28 February 2013 Plagne voted yes by 85 % and Vauffelin-Frinvillier by 95 %. Sauge became the first merger in the Bernese Jura since that of the two Tramelans.
BESombeval
A farmstead with its chapel in 866, Sombeval keeps the church of Sainte-Agathe, named under that dedication in 1315 and rebuilt in 1737 and again in 1866.
BESonceboz-Sombeval
At the foot of Pierre-Pertuis, Sonceboz became a stagecoach relay between Bern and Basel in the early 18th century, then in 1874 the starting point of the railway to Tavannes.
BESonvilier
In 1871 the Fédération jurassienne was founded at Sonvilier, and Bakunin gave three lectures at the Hôtel de la Balance.
BETramelan
Until 1952 Tramelan consisted of two municipalities, Tramelan-Dessus and Tramelan-Dessous, whose boundary had been fixed by agreements in 1481, 1543 and 1581.
BETramelan-Dessous
On 15 April 1882 the municipal assembly of Tramelan-Dessous voted 150'000 francs for the Tavannes-Tramelan line, opened two years later.
BETramelan-Dessus
In 1870 Tramelan-Dessus pledged 34'000 francs, and its burgher commune 17'000, towards the financing of the Jura railway network.
BEVauffelin
Named in 1228 in the cartulary of Lausanne, the parish of Vauffelin was served by the pastor of Orvin, then by that of Péry, before getting its own in 1860.
BEVilleret
At the foot of the Chasseral, Villeret saw the Blancpain watchmakers settle from 1735. In 1993 Cartier opened a factory here designed by Jean Nouvel, which closed ten years later.
Sites 6
Château d'Erguël
On 11 December 1264 the knight Otto of Arguel ceded to the Bishop of Basel his office of advocate and his share of this castle above Sonvilier. The Erguël thus became an episcopal lordship.
BE · SiteChâteau de Châtillon
On the hill of Châtillon at Péry, the 13th-century ruins of the castle of the nobles of Péry have carried a Catholic chapel since 1904.
BE · SiteChâteau de Courtelary
Built in 1606 for the Erguël bailiffs of the prince-bishop of Basel, Courtelary castle has housed the district prefects since 1832. It turned 400 in 2006.
BE · SiteCollégiale de Saint-Imier
In this 11th-century Romanesque church, to which the relics of Saint Imier were transferred, a chapter of canons sat until the Reformation of 1530.
BE · SiteCombe-Grède
On 6 May 1932 the Bernese government placed the Combe-Grède under state protection. This wooded gorge on the north face of the Chasseral is one of the oldest nature reserves in the canton.
BE · SiteTour Saint-Martin
It is called the Tower of Queen Bertha, but this bell tower dates from the late 15th or early 16th century, five centuries after the queen. It is the last remnant of the church of Saint-Martin, demolished in 1828.