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Villages / Jura / Delémont district / Haute-Sorne

Haute-Sorne

Merger 2013 Canton of Jura · District: Delémont · 7'453 inhabitants (31.12.2024)
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Haute-Sorne

The project already bears the name «Commune Haute-Sorne» in the consultation launched in December 2010 in the seven communes concerned.[1]

Founding of Haute-Sorne

The project brought together seven communes: Bassecourt, Boécourt, Courfaivre, Glovelier, Saulcy, Soulce and Undervelier. In the vote of 5 February 2012 Boécourt and Saulcy reject it. The other five form the mixed commune of Haute-Sorne, which comes into force on 1 January 2013, at the same time as Val Terbi and the Fontenais merger. Its administration is in Bassecourt. The territory follows the Sorne. Bassecourt, the largest of the five villages, lies on the river in the Delémont valley, at a crossroads of routes towards La Chaux-de-Fonds, Porrentruy and Biel. Undervelier is higher up, where the Sorne gorges widen, at the foot of the Pichoux. Under the prince-bishops of Basel, Bassecourt and Undervelier were among the thirteen « francs villages » of the Delémont valley. The French period drew them closer still: in 1793 Glovelier became the chief town of a canton that included Bassecourt, Soulce and Undervelier. Soulce, for its part, long belonged to the parish of Undervelier.[1][2][3][4][6][7][8][10]

History of Haute-Sorne

6th-7th centuries. At Bassecourt a very rich cemetery receives weapons, jewellery and pottery. The village is then probably the chief place of the Merovingian Sornegau.[6][11]

11th century. A parish is recorded at Undervelier.[7]

1139. Glovelier enters the written record on 14 April.[8]

1147. Courfaivre appears in turn, followed the next year by Soulce.[9][10]

1160. Bassecourt is named « Baressicort ». Undervelier follows in 1179 in the form « Undreviller ».[6][7]

1271. Bassecourt becomes a lordship of the bishopric of Basel.[6]

1322. On 15 November the parishioners of Soulce ask to break away from Undervelier. Yet the village only becomes an independent parish on 13 May 1935.[10]

1876. On 15 October the Delémont-Glovelier railway line opens. On 30 March 1877 it is extended to Porrentruy over the Saint-Ursanne viaduct.[8][9]

2003. On 4 June Bassecourt, Soulce and other neighbouring communes sign a partnership agreement. On 19 June the Unité pastorale Bassecourt/Boécourt/Glovelier/Undervelier/Soulce is set up.[1][10]

2008. A merger committee is formed on 18 December.[1]

2010. On 7 December the consultation opens in Bassecourt, Boécourt, Courfaivre, Glovelier, Saulcy, Soulce and Undervelier.[1]

2011. The merger agreement is finalised in September, then approved by the Jura Government at the end of the year.[1]

2012. Vote of 5 February: 1'464 yes to 1'390 no overall. Boécourt (51 yes, 375 no) and Saulcy (82 yes, 92 no) say no, Soulce says yes by 58 to 45.[2]

2013. The merger comes into force on 1 January.[3]

2013. On 24 November voters adopt the organisational regulations of the mixed commune.[1]

2015. Residents of Soulce and Undervelier form a committee to leave the merged commune, faced with the planned closure of the Undervelier school.[1]

Population of Haute-Sorne

Sources and references: [5][6][7][13]

Population of Haute-Sorne
20123'492 (Bassecourt, at 31 December)
20121'600 (Courfaivre, at 31 December)
20121'193 (Glovelier, at 31 December)
2012236 (Soulce, at 31 December)
2012291 (Undervelier, at 31 December)
20247'453

Historic sites in Haute-Sorne

Communal administration. It is in Bassecourt, rue de la Fenatte 14.[4]

Chapel and cemetery of Saint-Hubert (Bassecourt). The chapel, mentioned in the 15th century and rebuilt around 1700, stands on a Merovingian cemetery of several hundred graves, discovered in 1875-1876 and excavated during the building of the railway, then in 1942. Chapel and cemetery are listed in the inventory of cultural property.[6][11][12]

Church of Saint-Germain-d'Auxerre (Courfaivre). A cultural property of national importance, the new church was inaugurated on 17 June 1954 and consecrated on 29 August that year. It replaced the one the prince-bishop had authorised in 1701, consecrated in 1705.[9][12]

Les Forges (Undervelier). The prince-bishop of Basel created this ironworks in 1599. Privatised in 1793, it closed in 1880, but its 17th- and 18th-century buildings survive.[7][12]

Grotte de Sainte-Colombe (Undervelier). North of the village, this rock shelter, used mainly in the Middle Bronze Age, became a place of pilgrimage, fitted out at the end of the 18th century.[7][12]

Sources

  1. Chronologie jurassienne, « Haute-Sorne, commune »
  2. Chronologie jurassienne, « 2012 »
  3. République et Canton du Jura, réponse du Gouvernement à la question écrite n° 3074 « Fusions de communes : où en est-on ? » (23 octobre 2018)
  4. Commune de Haute-Sorne, « Administration communale de Haute-Sorne »
  5. Statistique Jura, « Mémento statistique Jura 2025 » (population résidante permanente au 31 décembre 2024)
  6. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Bassecourt » (François Kohler, version du 02.07.2020)
  7. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Undervelier » (François Kohler, version du 06.07.2020)
  8. Chronologie jurassienne, « Glovelier »
  9. Chronologie jurassienne, « Courfaivre »
  10. Chronologie jurassienne, « Soulce »
  11. République et Canton du Jura, Section d'archéologie et paléontologie, « Bassecourt, Saint-Hubert »
  12. Office fédéral de la protection de la population (OFPP), Inventaire PBC, liste cantonale du canton du Jura (état au 1.1.2026)
  13. Statistique Jura, tableau JU-1.2.11, « Population résidante permanente des communes, selon la nationalité et le sexe, au 31 décembre 2012 »

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Other villages near Haute-Sorne

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