Mirchel

Mirchel
State :	Switzerland
Canton :	Bern (BE)
Administrative district :	Bern-Mittelland
BFS no. :	0615
Postal code :	3532
Coordinates :	615 874  /  193848 coordinates: 46 ° 53 '44 "  N , 7 ° 38' 49"  O ; CH1903:  615 874  /  193848
Height :	669  m above sea level M.
Height range :	660–813 m above sea level M.
Area :	2.34  km²
Residents:	624 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	223 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.mirchel.ch
Location of the municipality

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

geography

Mirchel is 669  m above sea level. M. , 3 km northeast of Konolfingen and 16 km east-southeast of the canton capital Bern (linear distance). The farming village extends in the broad valley of the Chise , which connects the Aare valley to the Emmental , in the pre-alpine hill country.

The area of ​​the 2.4 km² large municipal area comprises a section of the pre-alpine hill country east of the Aare valley . The central part of the municipality is taken up by the valley floor of the Chise, which here has a width of 500 to 800 m. To the north the area extends to the Erlessenhubel ( 762  m above sea level ), a lateral moraine of the Ice Age Aare glacier. To the south of the Chise valley, the municipality extends over the steep slope of the Gmeiswald to the Appenberg , which belongs to the ridge of the Kurzenberg and which is 812  m above sea level. M. the highest point is reached by Mirchel. The south-eastern border forms the Bärbach , a right side stream of the Chise flowing down from the Kurzenberg. In 1997, 10% of the municipal area was settled, 10% forest and woodland, 79% agriculture and a little less than 1% was unproductive land.

Mirchel includes the hamlets of Gmeis ( 672  m above sea level ) on the southern edge of the Chise valley and Appenberg ( 791  m above sea level ) in the Bärbach valley on the northern roof of the Kurzenberg, as well as some groups of courtyards and individual farms. Neighboring communities of Mirchel are zziwil , Oberhünigen , Niederhünigen , Konolfingen and Grosshöchstetten .

history

The place was first mentioned in a document in 1320 under the name Mirchlon . Later the names Mirelte (1325) and Mirchel (1388) appeared. The etymology of the place name is uncertain. The last part of the name is compared with place names ending in -loh (e) and -lo (h) n with the meaning of forest cf. z. B. Iserlohn «Eisenwald» or Hohenlohe «high forest». The front part of the name in turn corresponds to the Old Saxon word mirki "dark, sinister" (from Urm. * Mirkʷaz "dark") in Upper German, but this lexeme is otherwise no longer used in Old High German. So explained, the place name Mirchel would mean dark forest .

Since the Middle Ages , Mirchel was in the border area of ​​the lordships of Hünigen and Signau, which were under the suzerainty of the Counts of Kyburg . In 1406 the village came under the rule of Bern and was assigned to the Konolfingen district court. After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798), Mirchel 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 624 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018) Mirchel is one of the small communities in the canton of Bern. 99.2% of the residents speak German, 0.4% speak English and 0.2% speak French (as of 2000). The population of Mirchel was 421 in 1850 and 474 in 1900. In the course of the 20th century, the population decreased by around 20% to 376 people due to strong emigration by 1970. Since then, the population has increased significantly again.

politics

The following items appear since 2019 is out of date to be : here the current data → https://www.bewas.sites.be.ch/2019/2019-10-20/NATIONALRATSWAHL/resultatUebersicht-de.html
Please help with that to research and insert missing information .

The voting shares of the parties in the 2015 National Council elections were: SVP 51.4%, BDP 17.1%, EPP 9.1%, SP 6.0%, EDU 4.6%, FDP 4.2%, glp 2.5 %, CVP 1.1%, SD 1.0%.

economy

Until the second half of the 20th century, Mirchel was predominantly an agricultural village. Even today, arable farming , fruit growing , dairy farming and cattle breeding play an important role in the income structure of the population. Further jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector. Today a feed mill, carpentry and mechanical workshops are represented in Mirchel. In the last few decades the village has developed into a residential community. 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 located near the main road from Münsingen to Langnau im Emmental . The municipality is crossed by the railway lines from Bern to Lucerne and from Burgdorf to Thun, but Mirchel has no direct connection to the public transport network. The nearest train stations are in Konolfingen , Grosshöchstetten and Gäziwil , each around 1.5 to 3 km from the town center.

Attractions

Numerous characteristic farmhouses of the Bernese country style from the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved in the town center and in the hamlets. The log building of the mill dates from 1803. Mirchel does not have its own church, it belongs to the zziwil parish.

Personalities

• Friedrich Traugott Wahlen (1899–1985), politician and Federal Councilor, birthplace in the hamlet of Gmeis

Web links

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

• Official website of the municipality of Mirchel
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Mirchel. 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 2015: Results of the Meikirch community. Canton of Bern, accessed on March 21, 2016