Bowil

Bowil
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Bern (BE)
Administrative district :	Bern-Mittelland
BFS no. :	0605
Postal code :	3533
Coordinates :	619 533  /  193578 coordinates: 46 ° 53 '35 "  N , 7 ° 41' 42"  O ; CH1903:  six hundred and nineteen thousand five hundred and thirty-three  /  193578
Height :	733  m above sea level M.
Height range :	682–1186 m above sea level M.
Area :	14.68  km²
Residents:	1373 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	96 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.bowil.ch
Bowiler Church
Location of the municipality

Bowil is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland .

geography

Bowil lies at 733  m above sea level. M. , 6 km east of Konolfingen and 20 km east-southeast of the city of Bern (linear distance). The farming village extends in the wide valley between the heights of the blistering river in the north and the Kurzenberg in the south, exactly on the valley watershed between the catchment areas of the Chise (right tributary of the Aare ) and the Emme .

The area of ​​the 14.7 km² municipal area comprises a section of the relatively heavily reliefed hill country between the Aare valley and the Emmental . The central part of the area is occupied by the 500 m to 1 km wide flat valley depression, which extends from west to east and ensures an easy transition for rail and road from Bern to the central Emmental. The western part of this depression is drained by the Chise and its source brook Dürrbach , while the Schüpbach , which flows through the Steinengraben , ensures drainage of the eastern part. The Steinengraben also forms the eastern boundary of the municipality. To the north of this valley basin, the community ban extends over a steep slope to the southern foothills of the blistering river (in the Geisswald 930  m above sea level ) and into the Schwändigraben .

To the south, the community spell extends over a gently rising slope subdivided by various source valleys of the Dürrbach up to the ridge of the Kurzenberg. Here the southern border runs over the forest heights of Ringgis (at 1183  m above sea level, the highest point in Bowil), Müliseilewald ( 1180  m above sea level ) and Goucherewald (up to 1100  m above sea level ). In 1997, 5% of the municipal area was in settlements, 39% in forests and woodlands, 55% in agriculture and a little less than 1% was unproductive land.

Bowil includes various hamlets, groups of farms and individual farms, which are widely scattered on the northern roof of the Kurzenberg. The important hamlets and farm groups include:

• Rünkhofen ( 700  m above sea level ) on the northern edge of the Chise valley , at the mouth of the Schwändigraben
• Oberhofen ( 703  m above sea level ) in the valley near Bowil
• Hübeli ( 712  m above sea level ) at the northern foot of the Kurzenberg and on the edge of the Moos
• Steinen ( 713  m above sea level ) on the Schüpbach, at the mouth of the Steinengraben in the valley basin
• Längeney ( 781  m above sea level ) in the Dürrbachtal south of Bowil
• Friedersmatt ( 825  m above sea level ) in a basin of the Dürrbach between the heights of the Kurzenberg
• Schwändimatt ( 813  m above sea level ) in a panoramic location on the northern roof of the Kurzenberg

Neighboring communities of Bowil are Signau , Röthenbach im Emmental , Linden , Oberhünigen , Gäziwil and Oberthal .

history

The first written mention of the place took place in 1299 under the name Bonwile . Later, the names Buonwile (1338) and Bonwyl (1534) appeared. The place name probably goes back to the Old High German personal name Bobo or Bovo and therefore means at the homestead of Bobo / Bovo .

Since the Middle Ages, Bowil was under the Baron Signau, with whom it came to the Counts of Kyburg in 1363 and to Bernburg families in 1399. Under Bernese sovereignty, the village was assigned to the newly created Landvogtei Signau in 1529, while the high level of jurisdiction always lay with the Konolfingen Regional Court. After the Reformation , Friedersmatt was the meeting place for the Emmental Anabaptist movement for a long time . After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Bowil belonged to the Höchstetten district during the Helvetic Republic and from 1803 to the Konolfingen Oberamt, which received the status of an official district with the new cantonal constitution of 1831.

population

With 1,373 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018), Bowil is one of the smaller communities in the canton of Bern. 98.4% of the residents speak German, 0.5% speak Albanian and 0.4% speak English (as of 2000). The population of Bowil was 1588 in 1850 and 1665 in 1900. In the course of the 20th century, the population fluctuated between 1450 and 1560 people until 1960. This was followed by a wave of emigration with a decline to 1247 inhabitants (1980). Since then, the population has increased again.

politics

The voting shares of the parties in the 2019 National Council elections were: SVP 51.9%, BDP 10.9%, SP 9.7%, GPS 7.5%, EVP 6.0%, glp 4.7%, EDU 2.8 %, FDP 2.3%, another 4.2%.

economy

Bowil was a predominantly agricultural village until the second half of the 20th century . Even today, the dairy industry and animal husbandry and forestry an important role in the employment structure of the population. Numerous other jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector. Wood processing, mechanical engineering, construction and mechanical workshops are represented in Bowil today. In the last few decades the village has developed into a residential community. The new Schlossberg residential area was built on the northern slope of the valley near Steinen. Many employees are therefore commuters who work mainly in the larger towns in the area and in the agglomeration of Bern.

traffic

The community is very well developed in terms of traffic. It is located on the main road from Bern via Langnau im Emmental to Lucerne . On June 1, 1864, the Gümligen – Langnau section in the Emmental of the railway line from Bern to Lucerne was opened with a train station at Bowil.

Attractions

See also : List of cultural assets in Bowil

In the old town center and in the various hamlets there are numerous characteristic farmhouses in the Bernese country style from the 17th to 19th centuries. The village church stands in the open between Bowil and the district of Oberhofen. It celebrated its 75th anniversary in the summer of 2006. The ruins of Alt Signau (south of the valley) and Neu Signau (north of the valley) belonging to the Barons of Signau are located on a narrow valley near the eastern municipal border but still on Bowiler Boden.

Web links

Commons : Bowil  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Municipality of Bowil
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Bowil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Permanent resident population from STAT-TAB of the BfS , municipalities see also regional portraits 2020 on bfs.admin.ch, accessed on May 29, 2020
2. ↑ Elections 2019: Results of the Bowil community. Canton of Bern, accessed on July 17, 2020