Limpach is a former

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

in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Limpach, Büren zum Hof, Etzelkofen, Grafenried, Mülchi,

Schalunen Schalunen is a former municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Schalunen, Büren zum Hof, Etzelkofen, Grafenried, Limpach, Mülchi and ...

and Zauggenried merged into the municipality of

Fraubrunnen Fraubrunnen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Bern-Mittelland (administrative district), Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 t ...

.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 13 December 2014

History

Limpach is first mentioned in 1276 as ''Limpach''. Several prehistoric grave mounds have been discovered at In Ischlag. During the 13th century the village and the low court right were both owned by

Fraubrunnen Abbey Fraubrunnen Abbey (; ; in English, "spring, or well, or fountain of urLady" and "of the Blessed irginMary" respectively) is a former Cistercian nunnery in the municipality of Fraubrunnen in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. History In 1246, Co ...

. After

accepted the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

in 1528 and secularized the Abbey and its lands, the village came under Bernese control. It was placed under the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

of Fraubrunnen. The high court over the village was originally part of the

Counts of Kyburg The Kyburg family (; ; also Kiburg) was a noble family of ''grafen'' (counts) in the Duchy of Swabia, a cadet line of the counts of Dillingen, who in the late 12th and early 13th centuries ruled the County of Kyburg, corresponding to much of what ...

's Burgundian territories. In 1406 Bern acquired the Kyburg lands and placed the village under the high court in

Zollikofen Zollikofen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is a suburb of the city of Bern. It is home to the Swiss College of Agriculture (SHL). Geography Zollikofen has an area of . Of th ...

. The village was rebuilt after a fire in 1836. The village church was first mentioned in 1276. It was replaced in 1808 by a new building. The patronage rights to the church were originally held by the

Ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

(unfree knights in the service of a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

overlord) family of Senn von Münsingen who sold it to the

Solothurn Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...

Schilling family in 1390. The Schillings traded it to the hospital in Solothurn in 1431. In 1539, after the village accepted the Protestant Reformation, the patronage rights were traded to Bern. The Limpach river valley near Limpach has always been marshy. The first attempt to drain the valley was in the 15th century though it had limited success. In 1746-47 and 1790-91 the first canals were built to drain the marshs. The municipality along with the Cantons of Bern and Solothurn undertook a major project in 1939-51 to completely drain the valley and channel the river. In 1984 two pumping stations were built to help drain the Limpachmoos marsh. Beginning in the 19th century many farmers shifted from growing grain to raising dairy cattle. The village dairy and cheese maker opened in 1845. As agriculture became increasingly mechanized, there were fewer jobs in the mostly agrarian village so the population dropped. While a few commuters moved into the village, the population has continued to decline. Limpach formed a school district in 1982 together with Etzelkofen and Mülchi. The village secondary students attend school in Fraubrunnen or the district school in

Messen Messen is a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg, in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen. History Messen is ...

in Solothurn.

Geography

Before the merger, Limpach had a total area of . Of this area, or 70.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 21.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% 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 3.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.6%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 63.4% is used for growing crops and 5.6% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Limpach is located in the Limpach valley on the border of the

Canton of Solothurn The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn. History The village of ''Salodurum'' was founded in the time of t ...

. The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of Limpach also serves Büren zum Hof and

. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Fraubrunnen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.

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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Or on a Bend wavy Azure three Fishes Argent''. The wavy blue line represents the Limpach river.

Demographics

Limpach had a population (as of 2011) of 354.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 16 January 2014 , 5.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals.
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 2.7%. Migration accounted for 7.8%, while births and deaths accounted for -3.9%. Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(315 or 99.7%) as their first language with the rest speaking

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

, the population was 50.0% male and 50.0% female. The population was made up of 160 Swiss men (47.1% of the population) and 10 (2.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 162 Swiss women (47.6%) and 8 (2.4%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 120 or about 38.0% were born in Limpach and lived there in 2000. There were 122 or 38.6% who were born in the same canton, while 54 or 17.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 16 or 5.1% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.8%. , there were 131 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 154 married individuals, 25 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 43 households that consist of only one person and 15 households with five or more people. , a total of 127 apartments (93.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3 apartments (2.2%) were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments (4.4%) 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 5.9 new units per 1000 residents. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:480 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:204 text:"204" bar:1850 from:start till:426 text:"426" bar:1860 from:start till:441 text:"441" bar:1870 from:start till:474 text:"474" bar:1880 from:start till:475 text:"475" bar:1888 from:start till:458 text:"458" bar:1900 from:start till:407 text:"407" bar:1910 from:start till:424 text:"424" bar:1920 from:start till:420 text:"420" bar:1930 from:start till:400 text:"400" bar:1941 from:start till:379 text:"379" bar:1950 from:start till:396 text:"396" bar:1960 from:start till:362 text:"362" bar:1970 from:start till:338 text:"338" bar:1980 from:start till:312 text:"312" bar:1990 from:start till:310 text:"310" bar:2000 from:start till:316 text:"316"

Heritage sites of national significance

The

Swiss Reformed The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The PC ...

church in Limpach is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old village of Limpach is part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 52.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (23.4%), the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(6.3%) and the Social Democratic Party (SP) (5%). In the federal election, a total of 142 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 52.0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Limpach had an unemployment rate of 0.89%. , there were a total of 106 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 48 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 37 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 constructi ...

and there were 3 businesses in this sector. 21 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 ...

, with 9 businesses in this sector. There were 148 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.5% of the workforce. there were a total of 79

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

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 29, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 35 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 34 (97.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 15. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 26.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 26.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 3 or 20.0% were in education. , there were 32 workers who commuted into the municipality and 78 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 2.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 4.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 50.7% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 11 or 3.5% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 271 or 85.8% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 22 individuals (or about 6.96% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 10 (or about 3.16% of the population) who were

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. 9 (or about 2.85% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

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 3 individuals (or about 0.95% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Limpach about 131 or (41.5%) of the population have completed non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

, and 25 or (7.9%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

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

''). Of the 25 who completed tertiary schooling, 72.0% were Swiss men, 20.0% 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 cen ...

, 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 potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

. During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 34 students attending classes in Limpach. There were no kindergarten classes in the municipality. The municipality had 2 primary classes and 34 students. Of the primary students, 2.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 6 students in Limpach who came from another municipality, while 27 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

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