Neyruz (FR)
Origin of the name Neyruz (FR)
The village is recorded in 1137 in the form « Nuerus », then in 1138 as « Nuruos ». Between 1138 and 1428 the register of Hauterive abbey writes it more than 60 times, in some fifty forms. Local tradition links the name to « Nucariolus », the little walnut tree or walnut grove. In German the village was once called Rauschenbach.[1][2]
Founding of Neyruz (FR)
Neyruz lies on the left bank of the Glâne, in an area where a burial mound and graves have been found. In the Middle Ages the village belonged to the lordship of Arconciel, which passed by marriage from the Glâne to the Neuchâtel family between 1138 and 1149. From the 12th century the Cistercian abbey of Hauterive, founded in 1138 by Guillaume de Glâne, became the main landowner in Neyruz. It set up a grange there and exercised low justice, which sat at the Châtelet. For worship the inhabitants depended on the parish of Matran until 1844. The village lived from livestock and fodder crops before becoming a residential municipality with the A12 motorway.[1][2]
History of Neyruz (FR)
1137. First written trace of the village, in the form « Nuerus ».[1]
1138. On 25 February Ulrich de Neyruz and his son Joranus witness the founding of Hauterive. The same year Ulrich gives the abbey his allodial land of the Sartari, which reaches as far as the fields of Matran.[2]
1138-1149. Together with the lordship of Arconciel, Neyruz passes by marriage from the Glâne family to the Neuchâtel family.[1]
12th century. The abbey of Hauterive becomes the village's main landowner, opens a grange there and exercises low justice.[1]
1432. A chapel of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine is built.[1]
1442. By this date at the latest, Neyruz belongs to the Old Territories, in the banner of the Neuveville.[1]
1677. The community adopts statutes.[1]
1738. A new chapel of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine is consecrated.[1]
1798. On 2 March, as the French enter Switzerland, Jean-Joseph Rossier of Neyruz is killed by a patrol at the Petit-Farvagny. The village sets up night watches and receives six rifles in June.[2]
1798-1848. Neyruz belongs to the district of Fribourg.[1]
1836. A new schoolhouse replaces the old one.[1]
1844. Neyruz separates from Matran and becomes a parish.[1]
1845-1848. The parishioners build the church of the Immaculate Conception.[1]
1862. The station opens on the Fribourg-Romont section of the Bern-Lausanne line.[1]
1880-1887. Jaques Dafflon probably has the oven and granary built near the church, on the road to the station.[2]
1904. The Fribourg glass painters Kirsch and Fleckner install the church windows.[3]
1915. The present school is built. A home economics school operates there from 1928 to 1975.[1]
1953. The chapel of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine is demolished.[1]
Population of Neyruz (FR)
Sources and references: [1][4]
| 1811 | 267 |
| 1850 | 444 |
| 1900 | 555 |
| 1950 | 593 |
| 2000 | 1'666 |
| 2025 | 2'874 |
Historic sites in Neyruz (FR)
Church of the Immaculate Conception. Parish church built from 1845 to 1848, after the separation from Matran. Its stained glass is the work of Kirsch and Fleckner of Fribourg, in 1904, and its organ was made by the builder Ayer of Vauderens.[1][3]
Communal oven. Oven and granary recorded in 1889 in the fire register as « atelier, four et grenier » of Jaques Dafflon. Restored in 1942 and converted around 2000-2005, it is the largest of the three ovens left in Neyruz, which once had more than twenty.[2]
School. School building of 1915, successor to the schoolhouse of 1836.[1]
Remains in Neyruz (FR)
Burial mound and graves. A burial mound and four inhumation graves of unknown date have been identified in the municipality.[1]
Promontory fort. A fortification occupies a barred spur. It may be prehistoric or medieval.[1]
Chavagny. Settlement recorded from 1138 on the territory of Neyruz, now vanished.[1]
Chapel of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine. Built in 1432, rebuilt and consecrated in 1738, it was demolished in 1953.[1]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Neyruz (FR) » (Marianne Rolle, version du 05.08.2009)
- Commune de Neyruz, « Histoire »
- Orgues et vitraux, « Neyruz » (église, vitraux et orgue)
- Service de la statistique du canton de Fribourg (SStat), « Population des communes, de 1900 à 2025 » (T01-02-03), population résidante permanente au 31.12.2025
Other villages near Neyruz (FR)
Missing information, or do you have a source? Suggest a correction or addition. Every submission is checked before it's published.
Suggest a change