Barberêche

Barberêche (german: Bärfischen; frp, Barberêtse ) is a former municipality in the district of Lac in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. It lies on the "language boundary" between the French- and German-speaking parts of Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 it merged with Villarepos and Wallenried into the extant municipality of Courtepin.

History

The Barberêche area was settled quite early on, as witnessed by archaeological finds of graves from Hallstatt times and foundations from Roman times.

The first documentary mention of Barberêche dates from 1154 under the name ''Barbereschi''. Later names included ''Barberesche'' (1173), ''Barbaresche'' (1180), ''Barbareschi'' (1182) and ''Barbarica'' (1423). The placename goes back to an old family name ''Barbar(i)us''.

There is evidence to show that, as of the 12th century, there was a noble family in Barberêche. The Barberêche Lordship fell in the beginning under the Dukes of Zähringen, and then later became a fiefdom of the Counts of Thierstein, before a series of changes in ownership in the 15th century. In 1442, Barberêche became part of the ''Alte Landschaft'' ("Old Territory") of Fribourg (Spitalpanner). After the collapse of the ''Ancien Régime'' in 1798, during the Helvetic Republic and the time following, the village belonged to the District of Fribourg, and from 1831 to the German District of Fribourg, before it was annexed to the Seebezirk ("Lake District") under the new cantonal constitution in 1848.

Geography

Barberêche had an area, , of . Of this area, or 59.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 19.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 14.4% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.4%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 39.0% is used for growing crops and 19.3% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.

Barberêche lies above sea level, and is north of the cantonal capital, Fribourg (Freiburg). The surrounding rural municipality stretches along the north shore of the Schiffenensee, a small lake through which flows the river Saane/Sarine, at the foot of the ''Grand Bois'' ("Great Wood") hill on the Swiss plateau.

The former municipality's area includes a part of the Swiss plateau's molasse uplands. The sprawling, yet narrow, area is bordered on the southeast by the Schiffenensee. All along this reservoir's shoreline in the Barberêche area is a high dike topped with trees, broken here and there by sandstone cliffs. Several gullies carved by erosion empty into the lake; these have been partially flooded owing to the creation of the reservoir. The gullies divide the terrace that Barberêche is built on into several small plateaux, which themselves are abutted in the northwest by the molasse hill.

In the farthest south and southwest, the former municipality area reaches beyond the Courtepin Valley to the flats at the mouth of the stream La Sonnaz where it empties into the Schiffenensee. From here westwards, the district stretches to the Bois de la Corbaz (a wood), which reaches above sea level, and to the edge of the Bois de l'Hôpital ("Hospital Wood") ( above sea level). Towards the northeast, the former municipality stretches over the Breilles Heights — which at above sea level are Barberêche's highest point — the Bouley Forest, and the Grand Bois, as well as the Bulliardholz (another wood; ), and on to the foot of the "Great Wood" (''Grossholz'') at Kleingurmels.

Population centers

Barberêche consists of several centres, namely:
*the village itself, Barberêche, above sea level.
*the village ''Pensier'' (Ger.: Penzers), above sea level, up from the mouth of the Sonnaz on the Schiffenensee.
*the hamlet ''Hobelet'' (Ger.: Hubel), above sea level, on the heights above Pensier.
*the hamlet ''Villaret'', above sea level, above the Courtepin Valley.
*the hamlet ''Breilles'' (Ger.: Brigels), above sea level, on the edge of the Bouley.
*the hamlet ''Petit Vivy'' (Ger.: Klein-Vivers), above sea level, on the terrace above the Schiffenensee east of the Grand Bois.
*the hamlet ''Grand Vivy'' (Ger.: Gross-Vivers), above sea level, on the terrace above the Schiffenensee east of the Bulliardholz.
*the hamlet ''Grimoine'' (Ger.: Courmoen), above sea level, on the terrace above the Schiffenensee south of Kleingurmels.

Neighboring municipalities to Barberêche are La Sonnaz

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