Cortaillod

Canton of Neuchâtel · Region: Littoral · 4'771 inhabitants (31.12.2025)

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

Origin of the name Cortaillod

Cortaillod is first recorded in 1280 ; the form « Cortaillot » is attested in 1311. For 1280 the form « Cortaillaut » is sometimes cited (to be cross-checked). The name is said to come from Late Latin « Curtis Agilaldi », the estate (curtis) of a man named Agilald, a Germanic personal name (to be cross-checked). Since the 19th century the name has also designated the « Cortaillod culture », a Middle Neolithic culture defined from the village's lakeside settlements.

Founding of Cortaillod

No founder and no charter mark the birth of Cortaillod. The village, on a cliff above the lake, owes its origin to farming : rich farmland to the north, a well-exposed slope suited to vines to the south. In the Middle Ages the status of its people was confused : the village had parishioners of Pontareuse and Bevaix, burghers of Boudry subject to the lord of Gorgier and subjects of the prior of Bevaix. In 1311, following an exchange, Pierre d'Estavayer, lord of Gorgier, took over part of the village as a fief from Count Rodolphe IV of Neuchâtel. Cortaillod formed a mairie in which each lord was represented by a mayor, with a single civil court ; from 1379 the inhabitants formed a single community with its own pastures. Between 1541 and 1545 the lord of Colombier bought Cortaillod from its two lords, and the village was joined to the county of Neuchâtel when the lordship of Colombier was purchased in 1564. The shores had been inhabited much earlier, in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, with no attested continuity with the medieval village.

History of Cortaillod

Middle Neolithic. Four Neolithic settlements occupy the shore : la Fabrique or le Vivier, Petit-Cortaillod (the largest, 300 m by 60 m), les Côtes and la Tuillière. They will give their name to the Cortaillod culture.

1010-850 BC. Late Bronze Age : villages of Cortaillod-Est (occupied from 1010 to 955 BC), Cortaillod-Plage (968-954 BC) and Cortaillod-Les Esserts (870-850 BC), dated by dendrochronology.

1280. First known mention of Cortaillod.

1311. The place is recorded as « Cortaillot » ; Pierre d'Estavayer, lord of Gorgier, takes over part of the village as a fief from Count Rodolphe IV of Neuchâtel.

1379. The inhabitants form a single community with its own pastures.

1499. Count Philippe de Hochberg allows the community to cultivate its shore lands.

1503. The Bishop of Lausanne approves the foundation of a chapel, dedicated to Saint Nicholas in 1505 ; the priests of Pontareuse and Bevaix oppose a resident priest until 1524.

1527. The inhabitants, who bear the title of burghers of Boudry, are freed from the commandise (the lord's protection), without being admitted as full burghers.

1537. After the Reformation, Cortaillod becomes an independent parish.

1541-1545. The lord of Colombier buys Cortaillod from its two lords.

1564. Cortaillod is joined to the county of Neuchâtel together with the lordship of Colombier.

1611. Construction of the present church, renovated in 1722 (to be cross-checked).

1731. A first calico printing works is set up at Petit-Cortaillod ; it lasts about thirty years.

1752. Foundation of the Fabrique-Neuve de Cortaillod, near the mills, operated until 1854.

1761. Construction of the Hôtel de commune, opposite the church (to be cross-checked).

1813. Abolition of the « émine de la porte », a tax paid by the inhabitants of Cortaillod from which only Boudry benefited.

1855-1885. A watch factory operates in Cortaillod.

1858. Ferdinand Keller, then Frédéric Troyon, report Late Bronze Age settlements at Petit-Cortaillod ; Friedrich Schwab and Edouard Desor have them dredged by their lake antiquities fishermen.

1862. Discovery of a spoked wheel of cast bronze and oak, 51 cm in diameter.

1876-1879. Left dry by the lowering of the lake during the first Jura water correction, the settlements are heavily looted ; many objects go abroad.

1878. Albert Vouga and Fritz Borel carry out the first excavations at Petit-Cortaillod : several thousand flints and bone awls, 3'000 axe sleeves and over 2'000 axes and small axes.

1879. The premises of the Fabrique-Neuve are taken over by the Câbles Cortaillod cable factory.

1880. The les Côtes settlement is already almost completely washed away by the lake.

1881. Approval of the present municipal coat of arms (to be cross-checked).

1925. Paul Vouga carries out test excavations at Petit-Cortaillod ; at his request the army takes a series of aerial photographs of the Bronze Age villages in 1927.

1956. Last episode of the centuries-old disputes with the burghers of Boudry over the sharing of common pastures and woods.

1981-1984. The village of Cortaillod-Est is fully excavated by divers.

1992. Silicon Graphics opens its European technology and production centre in Cortaillod (300 staff in 2000), closed in 2001.

1993-1998. Excavations linked to the motorway construction uncover many protohistoric structures (Murgiers, Petit Ruz, Champ Basset).

2001. Câbles Cortaillod becomes Nexans Suisse SA.

2012. The inhabitants reject a merger project called « Pontareuse » (to be cross-checked).

2023. On 26 November Cortaillod approves the « Basse-Areuse » merger project with Boudry and Milvignes, but the rejection by Milvignes makes the project fail ; Cortaillod remains an independent municipality.

Population of Cortaillod

521

1750

1'110

1850

1'299

1900

1'561

1950

1'768

1960

3'063

1970

3'603

1980

4'119

1990

4'373

2000

4'609

2012

4'771

2025

Historic sites in Cortaillod

Cortaillod church. Successor of the Saint Nicholas chapel approved in 1503 and dedicated in 1505, the present church is said to date from 1611 and to have been renovated in 1722 ; it is reputed to have the tallest bell tower in the canton (to be cross-checked).

The Hôtel de commune. Building of 1761 with a richly structured facade, opposite the church (to be cross-checked).

The old village. Old core on the cliff above the lake, bordered to the north by farmland and to the south by the vineyard slope. It keeps houses from the 16th to the 18th century (to be cross-checked).

Petit-Cortaillod and its harbour. Inhabited area of the plain, on the lakeshore, with the harbour. It is also the site of the village's largest Neolithic settlement and of the Late Bronze Age villages.

The Cortaillod vineyard. Wine growing remains an important sector and the wines of Cortaillod enjoy a certain reputation. The vineyard is said to cover about 57 hectares (to be cross-checked).

The Fabrique-Neuve. Founded in 1752 near the mills, this famous calico printing works operated until 1854 ; since 1879 its premises have housed Câbles Cortaillod (Nexans Suisse SA since 2001).

The Vauroux menhir. Megalithic monument standing between the territories of Cortaillod and Bevaix (to be cross-checked).

Remains in Cortaillod

The Neolithic settlements. Four settlements on the lakeshore : la Fabrique or le Vivier (now eroded), Petit-Cortaillod (the largest and richest, 300 m by 60 m, with an archaeological layer 0.60 to 1.25 m thick), les Côtes (almost completely washed away by 1880) and la Tuillière (large flints and stone axes). They gave their name to the Cortaillod culture.

The Late Bronze Age villages. Cortaillod-Est, excavated by divers from 1981 to 1984, had at its greatest extent eight parallel rows of houses (twenty-two in all) separated by lanes, on ground levelled with pebbles over 5'200 m², with an arc-shaped palisade. Cortaillod-Plage (2'500 m²) was its northward extension. Cortaillod-Les Esserts, enclosed by a triple palisade about 120 m long, probably covered 15'000 to 18'000 m².

The bronze wheel and lakeside finds. Nineteenth-century dredging yielded very rich metal finds : a spoked wheel of cast bronze and oak 51 cm in diameter (1862), bronze axes, sickles, pins and swords, hundreds of vessels and « clay crescents » about 30 cm long, probably a symbolic representation of the bull.

Motorway discoveries. Two Late Bronze Age cremation graves at Les Murgiers (1993), a large Bronze Age settlement at Petit Ruz (1995-1997) with nearly 300 post holes and a paved road 84 m long and 2.50 m wide, and at Champ Basset a pit containing 27 kg of Hallstatt pottery (1996).

Roman traces and Burgundian cemetery. Remains of a Roman settlement and a Burgundian cemetery are reported at Petit-Cortaillod (to be cross-checked).

Legends of Cortaillod

The legend of the Carcoies. The inhabitants of Cortaillod are nicknamed the « Carcoies », an old popular word for the cockchafer. According to local tradition, in a year when these insects invaded the region in huge numbers, the villagers are said to have considered fighting them with cannon. The nickname is proudly claimed today.

Sources

Other villages near Cortaillod

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