Undervelier

State :

Switzerland

Canton :

Law (JU)

District :

Delémont

Municipal municipality :

Haute-Sorne

Postal code :

2863

former BFS no. :

6725

Coordinates :

583 845 / 239276 coordinates: 47 ° 18 '15 " N , 7 ° 13' 30" O ; CH1903: five hundred and eighty-three thousand eight hundred and forty-five / 239276

Height :

536 m above sea level M.

Area :

14.00 km²

Residents:

291 (December 31, 2012)

Population density :

21 inhabitants per km²

Website:

www.haute-sorne.ch

map

Parish before the merger on January 1, 2013

Undervelier was a municipality in the Delémont district of the canton of Jura in Switzerland . The former German name Unterschwiler is no longer used today. On January 1, 2013, it merged with the municipalities of Bassecourt , Courfaivre , Glovelier and Soulce to form the new municipality of Haute-Sorne .

geography

Undervelier lies at 536 m above sea level. M. , twelve kilometers southwest of the canton capital Delémont (linear distance ). The former street line village extends on both sides of the Sorne in a valley widening between two gorges through the chains of the Jura .

The area of the 14.00 km² municipal area comprises the western part of a syncline in the Folded Jura . This is in the north by the Jura chain ( anticlines ) of the Jolimont ( 1025 m above sea level ) and the Côte du Droit ( 1029 m above sea level ), in the south by that of the Rochet (at 1050 m above sea level the highest Elevation of the commune) and the height of Rebévelier flanked. Across these chains, the Sorne, a left tributary of the Birs , has carved out two imposing gorges with its power of erosion. South of Undervelier are the Gorges du Pichoux , north of the village the lower Sorne gorge. In 1997, 2% of the municipal area was accounted for by settlements, 73% for forests and woodland, 24% for agriculture and about 1% was unproductive land.

Several individual farms belong to Undervelier. Neighboring communities of Undervelier are Saulcy , Glovelier , Bassecourt , Courfaivre and Soulce in the canton of Jura and Petit-Val and Rebévelier in the canton of Bern .

population

With 291 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2012) Undervelier was one of the smaller communities in the canton of Jura. 80.4% of the residents are French-speaking, 15.3% German-speaking and 2.2% Italian-speaking (as of 2000). Around 1870, at the time during the iron smelting in the village, Undervelier had around 700 inhabitants. In 1900 only 497 inhabitants were counted. Due to strong emigration, the population decreased to 315 by 1980. The population has remained stable since then.

economy

In 1599 an ironworks was founded north of the village by the Basel prince-bishop JC Blarer von Wartensee . After 1880 the iron mining stopped, the former iron works and houses from the 17th and 18th centuries are still preserved. Today there are few jobs outside of the agricultural sector in the village. Many employed persons (more than 50%) are therefore commuters and work mainly in the Delémont region .

traffic

The municipality is located on the regional road from Bassecourt via Bellelay to Tavannes . Undervelier is connected to public transport by the bus route that runs from Bassecourt to Soulce .

history

Traces of human settlement in the municipality of Undervelier can be found in early history. The Sainte-Colombe grotto in the lower Sorne Gorge was inhabited both in the Neolithic and at the end of the Bronze Age. It became a place of pilgrimage in the 18th century because, according to tradition, St. Columba lived here for some time.

The village was first mentioned in 1179 as Undrewiller . Later names are Underswiler , Undrivilier (1181), Undervilliers and Underswyl . The name is probably due to the homestead of a German called Undhari or Hunrici . As one of the 13 free villages of the Delsberg rule, Undervelier came to the Principality of Basel in 1271 . From 1793 to 1815 it belonged to France and was initially part of the Département du Mont-Terrible , from 1800 connected to the Département Haut-Rhin . By decision of the Congress of Vienna , the place came to the canton of Bern in 1815 and on January 1, 1979 to the newly founded canton of Jura.

Attractions

Some neoclassical buildings from the 19th century have been preserved in the village center . Undervelier has been a parish since the 13th century, to which Soulce and Rebévelier also belonged.

North of the village in the gorge on the western bank of the Sorne is the grotto of Saint Columba , which attracts numerous pilgrims, especially from Spain and Portugal.