Schlosswil is a former

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 Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Schlosswil merged into the municipality of

Grosshöchstetten Grosshöchstetten is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Schlosswil merged into the municipality of Grosshöchstetten. History Grossh ...

History

Schlosswil is first mentioned in 1146 as ''Wilare''. Until 1902 it was known as ''Wyl''. The earliest trace of a settlement in the area include scattered

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

artifacts as well as carved granite block of indeterminate age. A few

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

artifacts have also been found near the ''Schlossallee'' street. During the Middle Ages, a fortress (german: Burg Wil) was built near the village and it became the seat of the ''

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

'' of Schlosswil. The lords of the fort, 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 ...

en von Wiler, were first mentioned in 1146. The von Wiler family died out around 1300, and the village and associated territory passed through several noble families including, the Freiherren von Signau and eventually the Senn von Münsingen family. The territory was split in half and passed through several

ese

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

families until Burkhard von Erlach reunited the two halves in 1514. In 1546 the medieval castle was destroyed in a fire. Shortly thereafter it was rebuilt as a larger castle under the direction of the master builder Niklaus von Wattenwyl-May. The current appearance comes from a 1780 renovation that gave the castle a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

exterior. The various noble families continued to rule over the village and Herrschaft until 1798. The village church of St. Germanus was first mentioned in 1239. The current building dates back to 1660. Until it was dissolved in 2010, the District of Konolfingen was administered out of the castle in Schlosswil. The district administration was one of the major employers in the municipality. However, about three-quarters of the working population commutes to jobs in Bern,

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

or other nearby cities.

Geography

Schlosswil has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 70.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 20.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.0% is settled (buildings or roads).Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 During the same year, housing and buildings made up 4.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 19.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 54.2% is used for growing crops and 13.3% is pastures, while 3.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. The municipality is located between the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descend ...

and Emme river valleys. It consists of the village of Schlosswil, the settlement of Thali and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Öli, Weiergut and Untere Mühle. Until 1980 it included the now independent municipality of

Oberhünigen Oberhünigen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Oberhünigen is first mentioned in 1148 as ''Huningen superior''. Until 1980 it was an exclave of the municipality o ...

. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Konolfingen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 4 April 2011

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 vis ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is ''Bendy of four Azure and Or.''

Demographics

Schlosswil has a population () of . , 2.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -1.7%. Migration accounted for -2.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.5%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 10 May 2013 Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

(639 or 97.4%) as their first language,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

is the second most common (7 or 1.1%) and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

is the third (3 or 0.5%). There is 1 person who speaks

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. , the population was 50.5% male and 49.5% female. The population was made up of 320 Swiss men (48.8% of the population) and 11 (1.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 318 Swiss women (48.5%) and 7 (1.1%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 190 or about 29.0% were born in Schlosswil and lived there in 2000. There were 336 or 51.2% who were born in the same canton, while 66 or 10.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 30 or 4.6% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.7%. , there were 287 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 327 married individuals, 18 widows or widowers and 24 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 61 households that consist of only one person and 21 households with five or more people. , a total of 248 apartments (96.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 5 apartments (1.9%) were seasonally occupied and 4 apartments (1.6%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.04%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width: auto height:200 barincrement:45 PlotArea = top:20 left:35 bottom:20 right:35 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:960 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:200 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:40 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width: 35 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:195 text:"195" bar:1850 from:start till:954 text:"954" bar:1860 from:start till:926 text:"926" bar:1870 from:start till:946 text:"946" bar:1880 from:start till:943 text:"943" bar:1888 from:start till:882 text:"882" bar:1900 from:start till:821 text:"821" bar:1910 from:start till:777 text:"777" bar:1920 from:start till:811 text:"811" bar:1930 from:start till:823 text:"823" bar:1941 from:start till:842 text:"842" bar:1950 from:start till:846 text:"846" bar:1960 from:start till:827 text:"827" bar:1970 from:start till:697 text:"697" bar:1980 from:start till:565 text:"565" bar:1990 from:start till:618 text:"618" bar:2000 from:start till:656 text:"656"

Heritage sites of national significance

The

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

and surrounding park is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 32% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (21.3%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (13.1%) 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 ...

(9.2%). In the federal election, a total of 281 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was 54.4%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Schlosswil had an unemployment rate of 0.72%. , there were a total of 197 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 62 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 21 businesses involved in this sector. 20 people were 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 construction. ...

and there were 5 businesses in this sector. 115 people were 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 17 businesses in this sector. There were 390 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.6% of the workforce. there were a total of 149

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 43, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 17, all of which were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 89. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 2.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 15 or 16.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 12 or 13.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 8 or 9.0% were in education. , there were 88 workers who commuted into the municipality and 291 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 3.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 13.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 58.7% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 511 or 77.9% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

, while 40 or 6.1% 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 lette ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 10 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.52% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 46 individuals (or about 7.01% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 person who was

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and 2 individuals who were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

. 23 (or about 3.51% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 45 individuals (or about 6.86% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Schlosswil about 294 or (44.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 86 or (13.1%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). Of the 86 who completed tertiary schooling, 70.9% were Swiss men, 25.6% were Swiss women. The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

. During the 2011–12 school year, there were a total of 74 students attending classes in Schlosswil. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 20 students in the municipality. The municipality had 2 primary classes and 40 students. During the same year, there was one lower secondary class with a total of 14 students.Schuljahr 2011/12 pdf document
accessed 9 May 2013 , there were 7 students in Schlosswil who came from another municipality, while 36 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{Authority control Former municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern