Sornetan

State :

Switzerland

Canton :

Bern (BE)

Administrative district :

Bernese Jura

Residential municipality :

Petit Val

Postal code :

2716

former BFS no. :

0710

Coordinates :

583 206 / 236097 coordinates: 47 ° 16 '32 " N , 7 ° 13' 0" O ; CH1903: five hundred eighty-three thousand two hundred and six / 236097

Height :

843 m above sea level M.

Area :

5.62 km²

Residents:

139 (December 31, 2013)

Population density :

25 inhabitants per km²

Website:

www.petit-val.ch

View of Sornetan in winter

map

Sornetan is a village in the municipality of Petit-Val , which lies in the Bernese Jura administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland . The former German name Sornethal is no longer used today.

Sornetan was a separate political municipality until December 31, 2014 . On January 1, 2015, Sornetan merged with the municipalities of Châtelat , Monible and Souboz to form the new municipality of Petit-Val .

geography

Parish before the merger on January 1, 2015

Sornetan is 843 m above sea level. M. , twelve kilometers west of the town of Moutier (beeline). The farming village extends over a promontory on the northern slope of the Moron Jura range , around 100 m above the Sorne valley floor in a basin that is also called Petit Val .

The area of the 5.6 km² former municipal area covers a section in the central part of the Petit Val. The area is drained from the Sorne north to the Birs . Below Sornetan, the Sorne breaks through the anticline of the Montagne de Moutier and, in the process, dug the Gorges de Pichoux gorge, a typical Jurassic ridge with striking rock faces and ridges. The southern part of the Pichoux Gorge belongs to Sornetan. In the northwest, the area extends over the plateau of Semplain to the height of Rebévelier (up to 980 m above sea level ). To the south, the former municipality extends to the anticline of the Moron, where at 1124 m above sea level. M. the highest point of Sornetan is reached. Here are extensive high Jura meadows with the typical mighty spruce trees , which either stand individually or in groups. In 1997, 3% of the former municipal area was in settlements, 50% in forests and woodlands, 46% in agriculture and a little less than 1% was unproductive land.

Several individual farms belong to Sornetan. The neighboring communities of Sornetan are Saicourt and Saules in the canton of Bern and Undervelier in the canton of Jura .

population

With 139 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2013) Sornetan was one of the small communities in the Bernese Jura . Of the residents, 87.6% are French-speaking, 9.7% German-speaking and 0.9% Spanish-speaking (as of 2000). The population of Sornetan was still 181 in 1900. A downward trend continued to be observed throughout the 20th century.

economy

Sornetan is still a predominantly agricultural village, with dairy farming and cattle breeding predominating. Smaller ones are in the valley that separates Sornetan from Souboz and at the upper entrance to the Pichoux Gorge. In Sornetan there is a conference center of the Evangelical Reformed Church, the Center de Sornetan , which also offers guest rooms. It was built in 1971 according to plans by the architect Claude Leuzinger, expanded in 2002 and includes various conference rooms and 32 rooms with 86 beds.

traffic

The former municipality is located off the main thoroughfares on the cantonal road that leads from Tavannes via Bellelay through the Gorges du Pichoux (Pichoux Gorge) to the Delsberg basin near Bassecourt . Sornetan is temporarily served by a postbus course; the closest stop to the regular routes on the Tavannes - Lajoux - Les Genevez line is in Bellelay.

history

The first written mention of the village is found in 1161 under the current place name, in 1179 the name Sornetain appears . Sornetan belonged to the Moutier-Grandval Provostry . At that time, the village of Saipran, which formed the parish of the Petit Val, lay below the village on the Sorne. Saipran was abandoned after a major plague epidemic .

From 1797 to 1815 Sornetan belonged to France and was initially part of the Mont-Terrible department , which was linked to the Haut-Rhin department in 1800 . By the decision of the Congress of Vienna , the place came to the canton of Bern to the district of Moutier in 1815.

Until December 31, 2014 Sornetan was an independent municipality .

Attractions

church

The Reformed Parish Church of Sornetan was built in 1708. It has a front tower with an onion hood, a baroque sermon hall and valuable furnishings , including the choir stalls and the richly carved pulpit . The rectory dates from 1746.

Since then, the villages of Petit Val, Châtelat, Monible and Souboz have been part of the Sornetan parish. In the town center there are some characteristic farmhouses from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Web links

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

Official website of the Municipality of Sornetan (French)
Pierre-Olivier Léchot: Sornetan. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

↑ story on website centresornetan.ch , accessed on 22 June 2018th

[1] story on website centresornetan.ch , accessed on 22 June 2018th