Villiers

Canton of Neuchâtel · Region: Val-de-Ruz · 497 inhabitants (31.12.2012, former municipality of Villiers, last census before the merger)

Part of the municipality of Val-de-Ruz

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

Origin of the name Villiers

The place is recorded in 1191 in the form « in Vilar », then in 1308 in the form « de Villier ». The name comes from the Late Latin « villare », which meant a rural estate, a hamlet or a group of farms; it belongs to the same family as the neighbouring villages of Boudevilliers and Malvilliers. A panel on the villages of the Val-de-Ruz also links Villiers to the form « Vilar ». Another hypothesis, connecting the name to a surname « Villier », is put forward by only one source (to be cross-checked). The inhabitants bear the nickname Puisoirs.

Founding of Villiers

No founder or founding act is known. The slope of Le Tombet has yielded traces of an Early Iron Age settlement, and an unexcavated Roman-period site is reported in the area. The medieval village grew up in the east of the valley, at the foot of Chaumont near the source of the Seyon. It belonged to the lordship and later the mairie of Valangin. In church matters Villiers has belonged to the parish of Dombresson from the beginning. The former municipality also included the hamlet of Clémesin and, on the ridge from Chaumont to Chasseral, the métairies (mountain pastures) of La Dame, Chuffort, Aarberg, l'Ile and Dombresson-Frienisberg.

History of Villiers

7th-5th century BC. Early Iron Age settlement at Le Tombet, on the slope above the village.

Roman period. An unexcavated site of this period is reported in the area.

1191. First written mention, in the form « in Vilar ».

1235. On the death of William of Valangin, the lordship of Valangin, which includes Villiers, comes under the authority of the counts of Neuchâtel while remaining a separate lordship (to be cross-checked).

1308. The village appears in the form « de Villier ».

1483. Villiers and Dombresson divide woods and pastures between them.

1530. Neuchâtel adopts the Reformation, preached from 1529 by Guillaume Farel in the town and in the lordship of Valangin.

1531. The Reformation is introduced in the parish of Dombresson, to which Villiers belongs. The village then has 12 hearths.

1592. The lordship of Valangin is finally united with Neuchâtel (to be cross-checked).

1593. The Aarberg métairie, on the ridge from Chaumont to Chasseral, is acquired by the town of Aarberg.

1694. Discovery of a mineral spring, which is never exploited.

1798. Birth in Villiers of Auguste L'Épée, who in 1839 founded a music box factory at Sainte-Suzanne, in the Doubs (to be cross-checked).

1854. Aarberg cedes the Aarberg métairie to Villiers.

1903. Villiers becomes the terminus of the tram line from Les Hauts-Geneveys.

1948. The tram is replaced by trolleybuses (Les Hauts-Geneveys-Villiers and Neuchâtel-Villiers).

1965. Pupils from Villiers now go to school in Dombresson.

1980. Villiers becomes a residential area.

1986. The trolleybuses are replaced by buses.

1999. Chance discovery of the first remains of the Le Tombet site.

2001 and 2004. Excavations at Le Tombet, including a rescue campaign over 512 m2 in August 2004, which uncovers post holes, a pit, pottery and Iron Age bronze objects.

1 January 2013. Villiers merges with Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Le Pâquier, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys, Montmollin and Savagnier to form the municipality of Val-de-Ruz.

Population of Villiers

12 hearths (households)

1531

198

1750

288

1850

399

1900

245

1950

394

2000

497

2012

Historic sites in Villiers

The hamlet of Clémesin. Part of the former municipality, the hamlet lies at about 1'004 metres. The territory stretches north-east along the Combe Biosse to the slopes of the Chasseral, where it reaches its highest point at 1'550 metres (to be cross-checked).

The ridge métairies. On the ridge from Chaumont to Chasseral, the former municipality owned the métairies (mountain pastures) of La Dame, Chuffort, l'Ile, Dombresson-Frienisberg and Aarberg; the latter, acquired by the town of Aarberg in 1593, was ceded to Villiers in 1854.

The Seyon and its mills. The Seyon rises near the village, and mills were built along it. At the beginning of the 20th century Villiers combined farming, crafts and watchmaking.

A village of the parish of Dombresson. Villiers has no church of its own: it has belonged to the parish of Dombresson from the beginning, and its pupils have gone to school there since 1965.

Birthplace of Auguste L'Épée. The watchmaker Auguste L'Épée, born in Villiers in 1798, founded a music box factory at Sainte-Suzanne (Doubs) in 1839, which later turned to precision mechanisms; he died at Sainte-Suzanne in 1875 (to be cross-checked).

Remains in Villiers

The Le Tombet site. On the slope above the village, Le Tombet has yielded an Early Iron Age settlement: pottery decorated with applied cordons, a crossbow brooch, a chevron-decorated bracelet, bronze buckles and rings, iron fragments, a piece of a lignite bracelet, bones and charcoal. Spotted in 1999, excavated in 2001 and during a rescue campaign over 512 m2 in August 2004, it revealed some thirty post holes and a pit, traces of one or more buildings. Settlements of this period are very rarely preserved on the southern slope of the Neuchâtel Jura.

The Roman site. A Roman-period site is reported in the territory of Villiers; it has not been excavated.

Sources

Other villages near Villiers

Missing information, or do you have a source? Suggest a correction or addition. Every submission is checked before it's published.

Suggest a change