Wavre
Origin of the name Wavre
The first written mention of Wavre dates from 1179, in the form « Vavra » (its neighbour Thielle is mentioned as early as 1153 as « Tela »). The meaning of the name is not established. One hypothesis links it to the family of place names « Vabre », « Vaure » or « Vaivre », from the Gaulish vabero- (« intermittent stream with a low flow »), which would suit a village near the Thielle and once marshy shores (to be cross-checked).
Founding of Wavre
No founding charter or founder is known: Wavre grew gradually as a farming hamlet near the Thielle and Lake Neuchâtel. The area was occupied long before the village's first mention: a 2nd-century AD Roman mausoleum and a Roman villa at Les Perveuils have been identified there. In the Middle Ages and under the Ancien Régime Wavre belonged to the castellany of Thielle, whose court sat at Thielle. In 1618 Abram Tribolet founded the Montmirail estate on the boundary between Wavre and Thielle, where the Moravian Brethren opened a girls' boarding school in 1766. An independent municipality until 1888, Wavre then united with Thielle as Thielle-Wavre, which merged in 2009 with Marin-Épagnier (municipality of La Tène) and in 2025 with Enges, Hauterive and Saint-Blaise (municipality of Laténa).
History of Wavre
2nd century AD. A Roman mausoleum is built at the place called Les Biolles in Wavre; a Roman villa is also known at Wavre-Les Perveuils.
1179. First written mention of the village, as « Vavra ».
1618. Abram Tribolet, castellan of Thielle, founds the Montmirail estate on the boundary between Wavre and Thielle.
1722. The Bernese von Wattenwyl family acquires the Montmirail estate.
1739. In December Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, founder of the Moravian Brethren community, stays at Montmirail with his friend Friedrich von Wattenwyl.
1742. The Moravian Brethren are said to begin settling at Montmirail (to be cross-checked).
1766. The Moravian Brethren open a girls' boarding school at Montmirail, presented as the first girls' boarding school in Switzerland, which will take up to 150 pupils and teachers from all over Europe.
1888. Thielle and Wavre merge to form the municipality of Thielle-Wavre.
1894. The first Jura water correction leads to a change in the cantonal border, settled by an agreement between Bern and Neuchâtel signed on 18 October 1895 and in force from 1 January 1896.
1970. The area becomes increasingly residential while remaining largely farmed.
1988. With the boarding school closed for lack of pupils, the Moravian Brethren hand Montmirail over to the Communauté Don Camillo, which still lives there.
1 January 2009. Thielle-Wavre and Marin-Épagnier merge to form the municipality of La Tène.
26 November 2023. The voters of La Tène, Enges, Hauterive and Saint-Blaise approve the merger of their municipalities by more than 72 %.
1 January 2025. Wavre becomes a locality of the municipality of Laténa.
Population of Wavre
| 1750 | 43 |
| 1850 | 70 |
| 1880 | 105 |
| 1900 (municipality of Thielle-Wavre) | 308 |
| 1950 (municipality of Thielle-Wavre) | 277 |
| 2000 (municipality of Thielle-Wavre) | 580 |
| 2008 (municipality of Thielle-Wavre) | 682 |
Historic sites in Wavre
The Montmirail estate. Founded in 1618 by Abram Tribolet, castellan of Thielle, on the boundary between Wavre and Thielle and acquired in 1722 by the Wattenwyl family, the estate received Count von Zinzendorf in 1739. The Moravian Brethren opened a girls' boarding school here in 1766, which took up to 150 pupils and teachers from all over Europe. Since 1988 the Communauté Don Camillo has occupied the estate, recognisable notably by its tower with bands of yellow Hauterive stone.
Remains in Wavre
The Roman mausoleum of Wavre-Les Biolles. Remains of monumental Roman funerary architecture of the 2nd century AD. A carved fragment of white Urgonian limestone (23.2 x 18 cm, 4.3 kg) is displayed at the Laténium in Hauterive, in the Roman period section « À sept lieues d'Avenches ».
The Roman villa of Wavre-Les Perveuils. A Roman villa is known at the place called Les Perveuils, in Wavre.
The bridge piers of Pont-de-Thielle. On the territory of the former municipality of Thielle-Wavre, the piers of at least four bridges, recorded in the 19th century at Pont-de-Thielle, attest a crossing of the Thielle used in Roman times and in the Middle Ages.
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Thielle-Wavre »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « La Tène (commune) »
- Wikipédia FR, « La Tène (Neuchâtel) »
- Wikipedia EN, « La Tène, Neuchâtel »
- Société d'histoire et d'archéologie du canton de Neuchâtel, Images du patrimoine : « Fragment d'une architecture funéraire romaine monumentale »
- Portail catholique suisse (cath.ch), « Montmirail, un lieu de paix et de réflexion sur les marches du canton de Neuchâtel »
- Deutsche Biographie, « Friedrich von Wattenwyl »
- Recueil systématique de la législation neuchâteloise, Convention Berne-Neuchâtel du 18 octobre 1895 (rectification des frontières le long de la Thielle supérieure)
- Commune de Laténa, page officielle « La fusion »
- Commune de Laténa, « Statistiques de population 2024 : une dynamique encourageante pour Laténa »
- Vous voyez le topo (toponymie romande), « Vabre, vaure, vaivre, etc. »
- État de Neuchâtel, arrêté du 4 février 2026 homologuant le recensement cantonal de la population au 31 décembre 2025
- État de Neuchâtel, arrêté du 4 février 2026 homologuant le recensement cantonal de la population au 31 décembre 2025
Other villages near Wavre
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