Vernéaz
Origin of the name Vernéaz
Vernéaz is first recorded in 1194 in the form « Verneia ». The form « La Vernée » is reported for 1306, and a roll of dues from around 1360 names « La Vernee » (to be cross-checked). The name is said to derive from the regional word verne or vergne, meaning alder, a tree of damp ground, with a collective suffix: Vernéaz would thus mean « place planted with alders » (to be cross-checked).
Founding of Vernéaz
No act of foundation is known for Vernéaz; its creation is attributed to a squire in the service of the lords of Vaumarcus (to be cross-checked). The hamlet, overlooking a small gorge along the Roman road known as the Vy d'Etraz, is mentioned in 1194 as the boundary of the possessions of La Lance. Its territory has yielded Hallstatt-period tumuli and, in a nearby wood, a small, particularly well-preserved protohistoric quadrangular enclosure. From 1306 Vernéaz belonged to the lordship of Vaumarcus and shared its fortunes; its inhabitants owed the lord many dues and labour services (ploughing, work on fortifications), from which they were freed in 1832. Part of the parish of Concise until 1812, then of Saint-Aubin, Vernéaz formed a joint municipal administration with Vaumarcus in 1875, then a municipality from 1888 to 2017 (Vaumarcus-Vernéaz until 1965). It has been part of La Grande Béroche since 2018.
History of Vernéaz
1194. First mention, in the form « Verneia »: Vernéaz is named as the boundary of the possessions of La Lance. The neighbouring lordship of Vaumarcus is probably mentioned the same year.
1285. First known document mentioning Vaumarcus castle, centre of the lordship to which Vernéaz will belong.
1306. Vernéaz belongs to the lordship of Vaumarcus, whose fortunes it now shares; the form « La Vernée » is reported (to be cross-checked).
1309. The lordly family of Vaumarcus sells the lordship, including Vernéaz, to the Neuchâtel family.
around 1360. A roll of feudal dues in capons names « La Vernee » (Vernéaz), required to supply seven capons a year to the lord, against four at Sauges and twenty-two at Gorgier.
1476. Jean II de Neuchâtel-Vaumarcus opens his castle to Charles the Bold; after the Confederate victory at Grandson, Rudolf of Hochberg confiscates the lordship and only returns it in 1492. Local tradition attributes the Redoute overlooking the Vernéaz gorge to the Burgundian troops (see Legends).
1595-1599. The lordship of Vaumarcus, including Vernéaz, is raised to a barony (1595); Jean Ulrich de Bonstetten, husband of Anne de Neuchâtel-Vaumarcus, takes it over from 1599.
1675-1831. The barony of Vaumarcus, including Vernéaz, is run by the descendants of David von Büren until the fief is bought out in 1831.
1812. Vernéaz leaves the parish of Concise for that of Saint-Aubin.
1832. The inhabitants of Vernéaz are freed from the many dues and labour services (ploughing, work on fortifications) they owed their lord.
1875. Vernéaz forms a single municipal administration with Vaumarcus.
1888. Vaumarcus and Vernéaz merge into a single municipality, Vaumarcus-Vernéaz.
1965. The municipality drops the name Vaumarcus-Vernéaz in favour of Vaumarcus.
1978. The castle of Vaumarcus is listed as a historic monument.
1991-1993. Archaeological excavations at the site of the Redoute des Bourguignons, above the gorge of Vernéaz, bring to light an inner palisade and Celtic coins, confirming the protohistoric origin (late Bronze Age or early Iron Age) of this fortification, long wrongly attributed to the Burgundian Wars.
1 January 2018. Vaumarcus, and with it the hamlet of Vernéaz, merges with Bevaix, Fresens, Gorgier, Montalchez and Saint-Aubin-Sauges to form the new municipality of La Grande Béroche.
Population of Vernéaz
| 1750 | 59 |
| 1804 | 51 |
| 1850 | 50 |
| 1870 | 41 |
Historic sites in Vernéaz
The hamlet of Vernéaz. Perched at about 610 metres above Vaumarcus and Lake Neuchâtel, Vernéaz is a very small rural hamlet surrounded by vineyards and forest, on the border of the canton of Vaud (neighbouring municipalities of Concise and Mutrux). It overlooks a small gorge along the old Roman road known as the Vy d'Etraz.
The castle of Vaumarcus. Located in the village of Vaumarcus, not in Vernéaz itself, this castle remains the most emblematic monument of the lordship to which the hamlet belonged. Mentioned from 1285 and opened to Charles the Bold in 1476, it was the seat of the barony of Vaumarcus. It is said to have been burned after the battle of Grandson, then rebuilt, and restored from 1888 by an industrialist of the Pernod family (to be cross-checked). Protected as a historic monument since 1978, it has become a lively centre (art gallery, business centre, guest rooms).
The gorge of Vernéaz. The hamlet overlooks a small gorge along the Roman road known as the Vy d'Etraz; above it lies the protohistoric fortified site known as the Redoute des Bourguignons (see Remains), protected as cultural property of national significance.
Remains in Vernéaz
The Redoute des Bourguignons. At the eastern end of the terrace overlooking the Vernéaz gorge, about 600 metres above the level of Lake Neuchâtel, lies an earthwork with a trapezoidal plan (26 x 37 x 45 x 54 metres), formed by a massive bank with a wide outer ditch: it is the small, particularly well-preserved protohistoric quadrangular enclosure reported in a nearby wood. Excavations between 1991 and 1993 uncovered traces of an inner palisade and Celtic coins of the 1st century BC. Despite its name, archaeology has shown it to be a work of the Late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, roughly the 10th to 5th century BC. The site is protected as cultural property of national significance.
Hallstatt tumuli. Hallstatt-period tumuli have been found in the territory of Vernéaz.
Legends of Vernéaz
The construction attributed to Burgundian troops. The very name of the Redoute des Bourguignons, which overlooks the gorge of Vernéaz, reflects a persistent popular belief: that this earthwork was built by the troops of Charles le Téméraire, Duke of Burgundy, during the campaign that led to the nearby Battle of Grandson in 1476. This explanation, passed down locally for generations and still repeated by the regional press, has however been disproved by archaeology: the excavations of 1991 to 1993 and the discovery of Celtic coins showed that the structure actually dates back to the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, nearly 2'000 years before the Burgundian Wars. The name of the site thus today perpetuates a legend that science has corrected, without erasing it from local memory.
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vaumarcus » (Germain Hausmann)
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vernéaz » (Germain Hausmann)
- Wikipédia (français), Vaumarcus
- Wikipedia (anglais), Vaumarcus
- Wikipedia (anglais), La Grande Béroche
- Wikipedia (allemand), Redoute des Bourguignons
- Wikipédia (français), Liste des seigneurs de Vaumarcus
- Henry Suter, Noms de lieux de Suisse romande, Savoie et environs (glossaire toponymique)
- Assemblées Villageoises et Association des Sociétés de La Grande Béroche, Fresens vers 1360
- Mapcarta, fiche Vernéaz
- Wikidata, Vernéaz
- Commune de La Grande Béroche, La commune en bref
- Commune de La Grande Béroche, communiqué de presse du 2 février 2023 sur le recensement de la population
- Ancient History Sites, Château de Vaumarcus
- ArcInfo, « Mais qui a bien pu construire la redoute des Bourguignons au-dessus de Vaumarcus ? »
- État de Neuchâtel, arrêté du 4 février 2026 homologuant le recensement cantonal de la population au 31 décembre 2025
Other villages near Vernéaz
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