Ammerswil is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the district of

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Swiss canton Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. Lenzburg and the neighb ...

in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is located southeast of the town of

History

While some scattered

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

items have been discovered in Ammerswil, the first known settlement was an Alamannic farmhouse. The village of Ammerswil is first mentioned in 924 as ''Onpretiswilare''. In 1306 it was mentioned as ''Ombrechtzwile''. It was ruled successively by the

Counts of Lenzburg The Counts of Lenzburg (also Counts of Baden by the early 12th century) were a comital family in the Duchy of Swabia in the 11th and 12th centuries, controlling substantial portions of the '' pagi'' of Aargau and Zürichgau. After the extinction ...

, Kyburg and Habsburg, and then in 1415 by the city-state of Bern. Starting in the 13th century, the rights to

low justice High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. Low just ...

and

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

s were held by the Lords of Hallwyl. In the 14th century, these rights changed hands several times (the

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

of Fridingen, Freiherr of Grünenberg and the Lords of Ballmoos). In 1484 these rights transferred to Bern, which annexed Ammerwil into the court of Othmarsingen in the Lenzburg district (''Oberamt Lenzburg''). The Late Romanesque

aisleless church An aisleless church (german: Saalkirche) is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated fr ...

was expanded in 1640. It has a barn, and a prebend storehouse. The

Classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

rectory was built in 1783 by Carl Ahasver von Sinner.

Geography

Ammerswil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 33.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 58.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.1% is settled (buildings or roads).Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 23.2% is used for growing crops and 9.4% is pastures. The municipality is located in the Lenzburg district, in a side valley between the ''Bünz'' and ''See'' valleys. It is surrounded by woods except in the north-west. A new housing development from the 1970s and 1980s has somewhat replaced the original village square as the main village center.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is ''Argent a Semi Deer rampant issuant Gules from Coupeaux Vert.''

Demographics

Ammerswil has a population () of . , 10.8% of the population are foreign nationals.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bereich 01 -Bevölkerung
accessed 20 January 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 24.5%. Most of the population () speaks German (96.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 1.6%) and Portuguese being third ( 0.8%).
accessed 12-May-2010 The age distribution, , in Ammerswil is; 65 children or 9.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 87 teenagers or 13.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 77 people or 11.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 95 people or 14.4% are between 30 and 39, 135 people or 20.5% are between 40 and 49, and 92 people or 14.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 57 people or 8.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 35 people or 5.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 14 people or 2.1% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.3% who are 90 and older.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv)
accessed 20 January 2010 the average number of residents per living room was 0.55 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.57 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 65.6% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

or a rent-to-own agreement). , there were 12 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 79 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 127 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 234 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. there were 164 single family homes (or 62.6% of the total) out of a total of 262 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 There were a total of 1 empty apartments for a 0.4% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 9.2 new units per 1000 residents. In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 40.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (20.5%), the FDP (12.1%) and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

(10.7%). In Ammerswil about 81.4% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the school age population (), there are 45 students attending

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following table:

Heritage sites of national significance

The ''Pfrundspeicher'' (

Prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of th ...

store house) on Hendschikerstrasse is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Economy

, Ammerswil had an unemployment rate of 1.28%. , there were 50 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 14 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there are 6 businesses in this sector. 37 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 18 businesses in this sector. there were 326 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 274 or about 84.0% of the residents worked outside Ammerswil while 56 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 108 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau-Bereich 11 Verkehr und Nachrichtenwesen
accessed 21 January 2010 Of the working population, 11% used public transportation to get to work, and 66% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 161 or 26.4% were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while 363 or 59.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 individual who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau - Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of Aargau Cultural property of national significance in Aargau