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Villages / Valais / Martigny district / Le Guercet

Le Guercet

Canton of Valais · District: Martigny · No published figure for the locality. The municipality of Martigny has 22'509 inhabitants (31.12.2025, provisional FSO figure)
Part of the municipality of Martigny
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Le Guercet

Local people link the name to a marshy or damp place. Others derive it from the Latin quercetum, « oak grove ».[4]

Founding of Le Guercet

Le Guercet is a quarter of the municipality of Martigny, in the plain at the foot of the slope, north-east of the Bourg. It appears in the history of Martigny during the unrest of 1798, then receives a chapel in 1869. Its orchards are watered by the Guercet bisse, which follows the foot of the slope as far as Charrat. During the Second World War the iron ore of the Mont-Chemin mines came down here by cable car.[1][2][3][5]

History of Le Guercet

1798. On 5 May Upper Valais insurgents march through Martigny as far as Vernayaz. On their way back they plunder the Guercet area.[2]

1869. Construction of the Guercet chapel.[1][2]

1939-1945. During the Second World War the magnetite mined at the Grandes Férondes (or des Planches) mine on the Mont-Chemin comes down to Le Guercet by a 1'300 metre cable car, before being taken by lorry to the railway station.[3]

1949. The fall in the price of iron ore ruins the operator of the Mont-Chemin mines, Alex Dormann, who goes bankrupt.[3]

1980s. Renovation of the Guercet chapel.[4]

2007. The chapel is used by the Orthodox parish.[1]

Historic sites in Le Guercet

Guercet chapel. Built in 1869 and renovated in the 1980s, it belongs to the parish of Martigny and is used by the Orthodox parish.[1][4]

Guercet bisse. 5.9 km long and partly channelled, it takes its water at the Meunière des Artifices, in the old bed of the Dranse, follows the foot of the slope and joins the Toléron canal at Charrat. It waters the orchards of Le Guercet and Charrat. It is also called the Bisse de Charrat, Meunière du Mont or Meunière du Vivier.[4][5]

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Martigny (commune) » (Albano Hugon, version de 2007 remaniée le 13.08.2021)
  2. Patrimoines de Martigny, « Chronologie » (d'après Jean-Michel Gard, 1983)
  3. Ville de Martigny, Martigny ALP, hiver 2016 (article sur les mines du Mont-Chemin)
  4. Club alpin suisse, section des Diablerets, « Bisse du Guercet », programme de course du 16.07.2026
  5. Bisses du Valais, « Bisse du Guercet »
  6. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
  7. geo.admin.ch, recherche de lieux (coordonnées du quartier Le Guercet)

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