History of the villages of the Porrentruy district (Jura)
The 67 documented localities of the Porrentruy district, in the canton of Jura. Each page covers the origin of the name, the main stages of its history and its remains, with sources.
Towns and villages 57
Alle
Between 120'000 and 50'000 BC Neanderthals knapped flint at Alle, leaving more than 100'000 flakes and tools in the most important Mousterian workshops in Switzerland.
JUAsuel
In the 11th century the lords of Asuel built a castle on a rocky spur, abandoned in the 16th century. Their lordship was one of the four sworn fiefs of the Bishopric of Basel.
JU · Merger 2009Basse-Allaine
Buix, Courtemaîche and Montignez have formed a single commune since 1 January 2009, with a coat of arms combining elements of the three villages.
JU · Merger 2024Basse-Vendline
Beurnevésin and Bonfol joined on 1 January 2024 under a name taken from the local river, after yes votes of 87.5 and 68.1 %.
JUBellefontaine
On 17 January 1903 the plant built on an island in the Doubs began supplying Porrentruy with power. Before it, ironworks and an arms factory had occupied the site since 1564.
JUBeurnevésin
The castle of the knights of Beurnevésin, overlooking this Ajoie village, burned in 1387. Their fief passed in 1410 to the Spechbach family, then in 1625 to the Bishop of Basel.
JUBoncourt
Martin Burrus, who came from Alsace, founded a tobacco factory at Boncourt in 1814. Nearby, the Milandre tower is all that remains of the castle destroyed by Turenne in 1674.
JUBonfol
During the First World War the Western Front began on Bonfol's territory, at the Largin, a narrow strip of land jutting into Alsace.
JUBressaucourt
An Ajoie village on the French border, whose Bâme aux Pirôtas cave has yielded traces from the Late Bronze Age and the La Tène period, and a coin deposit.
JUBuix
A donation of 1244 to the abbey of Bellelay concerning property in Buix is the oldest evidence of the French language in French-speaking Switzerland.
JU · Lost villageBuratte
A vanished medieval village, mentioned in 1314 and abandoned in the Middle Ages. Its chapel survived until 1832 and its name now designates a neighbourhood of Bure.
JUBure
An Ajoie village right on the French border, seat of the advocacy of Haute-Ajoie in the Middle Ages and home since 1968 to a federal military training ground.
JUCharmoille
Village in the Allaine valley, near the river's source, known for its episcopal blast furnace of 1517 and the former priory of Miserez, today in the municipality of La Baroche (merger of 2009).
JUChervillers
In 1897 the town of Delémont bought the Chervillers estate on the Doubs to build a power station there. The old mill burned down in 1917.
JUChevenez
An underground river flows beneath its valley and, through a sinkhole, gives rise to a temporary stream, the Creugenat.
JU · Merger 2009Clos du Doubs
Saint-Ursanne and six small communes joined on 1 January 2009, after Soubey said no and stayed out.
JUCoeuve
A hot spot of the Troubles that shook the principality in 1726-1740, Coeuve saw its castle serve as the summer residence of the prince-bishops of Basel from 1730 to 1793.
JUCornol
At the foot of Les Rangiers, the village of the Mont-Terri: a summit fortified again and again, from the Bronze Age to the Roman garrison of the 4th century.
JUCourchavon
Châtelvouhay Castle, seat of the advocates of Ajoie in the 13th and 14th centuries, stood on the village's territory, where mammoth bones have also been found.
JUCourgenay
The village of the Pierre Percée, the remnant of a dolmen raised around 3000 BC, and of little Gilberte, who served Swiss soldiers during the First World War.
JUCourtedoux
On the route of the A16 motorway, over 4'000 dinosaur footprints, including 280 trackways, were excavated at Courtedoux and neighbouring Chevenez between 2002 and 2007.
JUCourtemaîche
North of the village, the hamlet of Grandgourt grew up around a 12th-century convent that became an abbey in 1188 and then a priory of Bellelay in 1208.
JUCourtemautruy
An estate of Lucelle Abbey from 1147 to 1793, the hamlet asked in vain, in 1865-1866, to separate from Courgenay.
JU · Lost villageCourtemblin et Courtari
During the Thirty Years' War the troops of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar destroyed Courtemblin, which never rose again. Today only street names recall the two villages.
JUDamphreux
Farming village in eastern Ajoie, seat of what is said to be the region's oldest parish, now part of the municipality of Damphreux-Lugnez (merger of 1 January 2023).
JU · Merger 2023Damphreux-Lugnez
Two villages of the Porrentruy district with 369 inhabitants between them, joined on 1 January 2023 after a petition signed by 176 residents.
JUDamvant
A village in the far west of Ajoie, on the road from Porrentruy to Besançon. A Gallo-Roman villa, partly excavated in 1842, shows occupation here since Antiquity.
JUEpauvillers
Land of the chapter of Saint-Ursanne from 1139, Epauvillers is the centre of the parish of Saint-Arnoux, whose church, destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, was rebuilt at the end of the 17th century.
JUEpiquerez
A small village on the crest of the Clos du Doubs near the French border, which granted honorary citizenship to the Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini in 1869.
JUEssertfallon
In March 1944, after bombs were dropped on the area, an unexploded 500 kg British bomb was found near the hamlet. In 2015 Essertfallon inaugurated a straw house.
JUFahy
An Ajoie border village on the road to Montbéliard, almost wiped out in the Burgundian Wars, Fahy became in the 20th century the gateway into Switzerland for Peugeot cars.
JUFontenais
In the 16th century the water of the Fontenais springs fed the fountains of Porrentruy. The village later became a working-class watchmaking suburb.
JUFregiécourt
Settled since the Neolithic, as the remains of a dolmen show, Fregiécourt is a farming village in Ajoie known for its cherry and damassine plum trees.
JUGrandfontaine
Grandfontaine owes its name to the karst spring rising at its centre. In the 18th century three great fires struck the village, in 1756, 1765 and 1785.
JUGrandgourt
On 30 April 1244 Hugues de Buix gave a meadow for the church of the priory of Grandgourt. The deed is reportedly the oldest document written in French in Switzerland.
JU · Merger 2009Haute-Ajoie
Chevenez, Damvant, Réclère and Roche-d'Or joined in 2009, then in 2018 by Rocourt, which had first said no.
JU · Merger 2009La Baroche
Five communes joined on 1 January 2009, after some close votes, as in Pleujouse: 32 yes to 30 no.
JULa Caquerelle
Destroyed by fire in 1901, the farm near the Col des Rangiers was reborn as a hotel in 1906. The nearby Saint-Joseph chapel, a school from 1935, is now a museum.
JULa Motte
Where the Doubs leaves Switzerland, the church of Saint-Valbert, mentioned from 1139, stands alone on the riverbank. The hamlet's customs post closed in 2000.
JULe Maira
In 1851 the people of Le Maira themselves asked to join Buix, which agreed with reservations because of the hamlet's distance.
JULugnez
Farming village in eastern Ajoie on the French border, recorded from the 6th century and by tradition the birthplace of Saint Imier, now part of the municipality of Damphreux-Lugnez (merger of 1 January 2023).
JUMiécourt
From 1386 to 1468 Miécourt was a separate lordship held by the Morimont family, while the rest of Ajoie went to the counts of Montbéliard.
JUMontenol
Born of the clearing of the chapter of Saint-Ursanne's land, Montenol lines up about ten houses on the crest of the Clos du Doubs above Saint-Ursanne.
JUMontignez
Recorded from 731, Montignez on the French border yielded in 1956 a monolithic Merovingian sarcophagus, discovered in the choir of its church.
JUMontmelon
Destroyed by the Swedes in 1637, during the Thirty Years' War, Montmelon lay abandoned until it was resettled at the end of the 17th century.
JUMontvoie
Montvoie grew up around a castle on the Lomont, burned in 1474 during the Burgundian Wars and then rebuilt. Only remains overgrown by the forest survive.
JUMormont
In 1783 Prince-Bishop Joseph-Sigismond de Roggenbach banned private individuals in Courchavon and Mormont from selling wood.
JUOcourt
A village in the Doubs valley west of Saint-Ursanne. Its church of Saint-Valbert appears in 1139, and the lordship of Montvoie, with its castle on the Lomont, was joined to it in 1882.
JUPleujouse
Pleujouse grew up below the castle built around 1100 on a rocky spur. Destroyed by the Confederates in 1444-1445 and ravaged by fire in 1980, it was rebuilt each time.
JU · TownPorrentruy
After a six-week siege, Porrentruy received in 1283 a charter of liberties modelled on the rights of Colmar. Its castle housed the prince-bishops of Basel from 1528 to 1792.
JURéclère
Its caves, open to the public since 1890, offer a route of about 1'500 m through a great hall of 150 m by 70 m adorned with stalagmites.
JURoche-d'Or
Small farming village on the Lomont ridge, which grew up around the castle of the prince-bishops of Basel, now in the municipality of Haute-Ajoie (merger of 1 January 2009).
JURocourt
A Haute-Ajoie village on the road from Porrentruy to Besançon whose lords several times refused homage to the bishops of Basel. It is said to have the last known « Jérusalem » apple tree.
JUSaint-Ursanne
It was at Saint-Ursanne that the Constituent Assembly accepted, on 3 February 1977, the draft Constitution of the Republic and Canton of Jura.
JUSeleute
Until 1793 Seleute belonged to the chapter of Saint-Ursanne, and its territory, on a terrace above the Doubs, was divided into six fiefs.
JUVendlincourt
In 1832 Bern occupied Vendlincourt for a few days: the village was refusing to pay its taxes in solidarity with its priest, who would not swear the oath to the Constitution.
JUVillars-sur-Fontenais
So closely tied to its neighbour that parish and municipality were often called Fontenais-Villars, the Ajoie hamlet still has its chapel and opened its own school in 1966.
Sites 10
Château et grottes de Milandre
The only surviving tower of a castle of the counts of Montbéliard destroyed by Turenne in 1674, above more than 10 km of caves carved by the Milandrine.
JU · SiteChâtelvouhay
Ruins of a 13th-century castle, residence of the advocates of the Ajoie, on a spur overlooking the Allaine valley, in the municipality of Courchavon.
JU · SiteCol des Rangiers
The Sentinelle des Rangiers, a statue by Charles L'Eplattenier unveiled on the pass in 1924, was toppled by the Groupe Bélier in 1984, beheaded in 1989 and set on fire in 1990.
JU · SiteCreugenat
After heavy rain, four to five times a year, the Creugenat sinkhole overflows and releases a temporary river, which flooded Porrentruy on 22 July 1757.
JU · SiteErmitage de Saint-Ursanne
Cliff cave above the Doubs where, according to tradition, the hermit Ursanne lived, and around which the town of Saint-Ursanne is said to have grown.
JU · SiteÉtangs de Bonfol
Artificial ponds dug for carp farming since the 15th century, nature reserves since 1961, in the municipality of Basse-Vendline (former municipality of Bonfol).
JU · SiteLe Largin
In autumn 1914 boundary stone no. 111 at Le Largin, a Swiss tongue of land jutting into Alsace, became « kilometre zero » of the Western Front.
JU · SiteMont-Terri
Fortified summit overlooking Ajoie, occupied from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, an archaeological site of national significance in the municipality of Cornol.
JU · SitePierre Percée
Only the front of this dolmen, erected around 3000 BC, still stands. Passing through its hole was reputed to cure colic.
JU · SitePrieuré de Miserez
Founded in the 12th century by Augustinian canons, the priory of Miserez passed to the Jesuits of Porrentruy before becoming an orphanage, a boarding school and a home for the elderly.