Apples

Canton of Vaud · District: Morges · Around 1,450 to 1,460 inhabitants (last known figure for Apples as an independent municipality, as of 31 December 2020; since the merger of 1 July 2021, the population is no longer counted separately but is included in that of the municipality of Hautemorges).

Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Apples

The name Apples has nothing to do with the fruit, despite what its current spelling might suggest to an uninformed reader. The generally accepted hypothesis traces the site back to a Burgundian settlement of the 5th century, whose name would have been something like « Iplingen ». Under the effect of the Romanization of the local speech, this name would have evolved into « Iplens », then into « Aplis », the form under which the village appears in the very first written document that mentions it, in 1011. This evolutionary chain (Iplingen, Iplens, Aplis) remains a philological reconstruction rather than a fact attested by intermediate documents: it would deserve to be checked against a specialized work on Vaud toponymy rather than taken at face value. What is, on the other hand, solidly established, by several cross-checking sources, is the sequence of written forms: Aplis in 1011, Aples in 1222, then Apples from 1328, a form that later became fixed. One source gives a different date for the first mention (1009 rather than 1011), but the most numerous and most reliable sources converge on 1011; it is this date that is used here, with this caveat. The inhabitants of Apples collectively bear the name Caque à part, sometimes spelled caquepois or caque-pois. The exact origin of this village nickname, as with many nicknames of Vaud municipalities, does not seem to be documented with certainty in the sources consulted; a local tourism source suggests it alludes to the village's spirit of independence and particularism, a reading to be taken as an interpretation rather than an established fact. One source also mentions two other nicknames attributed to the inhabitants, the Caque-à-Part and the Retrousse-Jupons, without it being clear whether they referred to the same inhabitants at different periods or to distinct groups within the village; this point would deserve further investigation. In the Vaud patois, the nickname is sometimes transcribed lè Caca-Pâi.

Founding of Apples

Apples was not founded by a single dated act: like most villages at the foot of the Vaud Jura, it formed through the gradual occupation of a favourable site, before appearing in texts once structured around a church and attached to a lordship. The territory was inhabited well before any written mention: remains from the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Roman era have been uncovered in the municipality, evidence of an ancient and continuous human presence, even though the sources consulted for this research do not give details of the excavations, their precise dating, or their exact location. A chapel is said by one source to have already existed in the 8th century, which suggests an organized Christian core well before the year 1000, but this point could only be cross-checked with a single source and would remain to be confirmed. The pivotal moment, documented much more solidly, is 18 February 1011: King Rudolf III of Burgundy donates the parish church of Saint-Pierre and the village of Apples to the abbey of Romainmôtier, one of the most powerful religious houses of medieval Vaud. It is this donation that brings Apples into written history and shapes its status for the following five centuries: the village develops as a possession of the abbey, under its temporal and spiritual authority. At the time of the Plaict général of 1327, an act that sets out the collective rights and duties of the abbey's subjects, the inhabitants of Apples are described as free, but subject to mainmorte and formariage, two servitudes that limited the free disposal of property and the free choice of spouse outside the lordship; they were also required to attend the assemblies, or plaids généraux, convened by the abbey. This situation lasts until the Bernese conquest of Vaud in 1536, which ends the abbey's temporal sovereignty over the region.

History of Apples

Neolithic, Bronze Age. Remains from these periods have been uncovered on the territory of the municipality, though the available sources do not specify their exact nature, location, or the circumstances of their discovery. This point would deserve more precise documentation from the cantonal archaeology department.

Roman era. Traces of Roman occupation have also been found on the territory, continuing a long-standing human presence at this site, where water sources were abundant.

5th century. According to the hypothesis adopted by several sources, Burgundian settlers found the first true settlement on the site, giving rise to the village's name through a linguistic evolution still poorly documented in detail.

8th century. A chapel is said to have already existed at this location according to one source; the information could not be cross-checked with a second independent source and remains to be verified.

18 February 1011. King Rudolf III of Burgundy donates the parish church of Saint-Pierre and the village of Apples, then known as Aplis, to the abbey of Romainmôtier. This is the earliest known written mention of the village.

1222. The village's name appears in texts in the form Aples.

1327. The Plaict général sets out the rights and duties of the subjects of the abbey of Romainmôtier. The inhabitants of Apples are described there as free, but subject to mainmorte and formariage, and required to attend the general assemblies convened by the abbey.

1328. The village's name takes the form Apples, which will become the final form.

1416. A census mentions 24 hearths (households) in Apples. This figure cannot be directly converted into a number of inhabitants without an arbitrary assumption about the average household size of the time; it is therefore not included in the population table below, but mentioned here for information.

1536. Bernese troops conquer the Vaud region and end the sovereignty of the abbey of Romainmôtier. Apples, enclosed between the bailiwicks of Morges and Aubonne, is incorporated into the Bernese bailiwick of Romainmôtier.

1669. Construction of the Apples town hall, which housed the Council of Twelve, the village's local governing body under the Bernese Ancien Régime.

1798-1803. After the fall of the Bernese regime, Apples becomes part of the canton of Léman under the Helvetic Republic.

1803. The Act of Mediation turns Léman into the canton of Vaud. Apples is then attached to the district of Aubonne, where it will remain for more than two centuries; one source mentions a transitional attachment to the district of Morges that same year, before this final attachment to Aubonne, but this detail could only be confirmed by a single source.

1838. The reformed church, built on the foundations of an earlier Romanesque building, undergoes a major transformation. One source attributes this work to the architect François Recordon, information that could not be cross-checked with a second source and remains to be verified.

1859. Construction of the village's neoclassical school building. One source attributes the plans to the architect Louis Simon, information that could not be independently confirmed.

1895. Inauguration of the Bière-Apples-Morges (BAM) railway line, which opens up the village and eases its economic development.

1905. New restoration campaign for the church, according to a source that does not specify the exact nature of the work.

1923. Adoption of the municipal coat of arms of Apples: a shield party per pale of silver and gules, recalling the village's historical belonging to the abbey of Romainmôtier, charged with a gold bend with three roundels (tourteaux), referring to the medieval Apples (or Dapples) family, who are said to have left the village to settle in Lausanne in the 14th or 15th century before obtaining citizenship there in 1603 according to one source. The Dapples family, still documented today in the canton of Vaud, is presented by several sources as probably originating from Apples, although no direct and continuous documentary link between the medieval family and the modern family is clearly established in the sources consulted.

1943. Electrification of the Bière-Apples-Morges railway line.

1957. New restoration of the church; installation of stained-glass windows by Bernard Viglino on the south façade.

1963. Construction of the Saints-Pierre-et-Paul Catholic chapel. One source attributes the plans to the architect Jean Serex, though no second source could confirm this attribution.

1981. Founding of Logitech in Apples, a company that became one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer peripherals. The registered office of Logitech International SA is still registered in Apples today, although most of the company's activity has long since moved elsewhere (notably to Lausanne and California).

1989. The cup-marked stone of the Duin woods, on the territory of Apples, is listed among the fifteen protected erratic boulders of the canton of Vaud.

1997. Installation of a new organ, built by the Strasbourg organ builder Muhleisen, in the Apples church. The inaugural concert is given on 28 September by the organist André Luy.

1 September 2006 / 1 January 2008. The Vaud territorial reform dissolves the district of Aubonne, to which Apples had belonged since 1803. The village joins the new district of Morges.

2010. New renovation of the Apples church.

November 2018. Voters in Apples and five neighbouring municipalities (Bussy-Chardonney, Cottens, Pampigny, Reverolle, Sévery) vote in favour of a merger project to create a new municipality.

1 July 2021. The merger takes effect: Apples ceases to exist as an independent municipality and becomes a locality of the new municipality of Hautemorges, of which it forms the administrative centre (the municipal registry office is located there).

Population of Apples

362

1764

440

1803

591

1850

546

1900

608

1914

587

1950

517

1962

652

1970

833

1980

1'159

2000

1'243

2010

1'453

2020

Historic sites in Apples

Apples Reformed Church. A building resting on the foundations of an earlier Romanesque structure, on the very site of the former Saint-Pierre church donated to the abbey of Romainmôtier in 1011. It underwent several restoration campaigns over the centuries (1838, 1905, 1957, 2010 according to available sources), which makes its current appearance largely composite rather than from a single period. It houses an organ by the Strasbourg organ builder Muhleisen, installed in 1997, as well as Art Nouveau stained-glass windows in the choir and windows by Bernard Viglino (1957) on the south façade.

Town hall (1669). Former administrative building of the village, which housed the Council of Twelve under the Ancien Régime, the local governing body. It bears witness to Apples' community organization well before the creation of the modern State of Vaud.

Neoclassical school (1859). School building constructed in the mid-19th century in the neoclassical style characteristic of many Vaud village schools of that period.

Saints-Pierre-et-Paul Catholic Chapel (1963). A more recent religious building, built for the village's Catholic community, at a time when the region remained overwhelmingly Protestant since the Bernese Reformation of the 16th century.

Bière-Apples-Morges (BAM) station and line. Inaugurated in 1895 and electrified in 1943, this regional railway line long served as Apples' main link to Morges and the plain, and remains in service today under the operation of the MBC company (Morges-Bière-Cossonay), the historic BAM line having been integrated into this larger network.

Remains in Apples

Cup-marked stone of the Duin woods. An erratic boulder bearing cup marks (small hollows carved into the rock), located in the Duin woods, between Apples and Ballens, at around 687 metres above sea level. It is one of the fifteen erratic boulders protected by the canton of Vaud since 1989. Neither the precise dating of these carvings, nor the method used to carve them, nor their original function (marker, calendar, ritual use) is established with certainty by the sources consulted: several hypotheses circulate, including the unverified one, to be treated as a modern interpretation rather than a historical fact, according to which the arrangement of the cup marks would reproduce the constellation of the Pleiades. This last hypothesis stems from a personal reading published on a blog and must not be presented as an established archaeological fact.

Remains from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Roman era. Several sources mention the discovery of remains from these periods on the territory of the municipality, evidence of continuous human occupation since prehistory. The sources consulted for this research do not, however, detail the exact location of these discoveries, their precise dating, or the circumstances of the excavations; this point would deserve further investigation with the Vaud cantonal archaeology department or specialized archaeological publications.

Sources

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