Léchelles (; ) 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
district of Broye, in the
canton of Fribourg
The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg, is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French spoken by more than two thirds of the citizens and German by a little more than a quarter. Both are official languages in th ...
,
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 September 1994 the former municipality of
Chandon merged into the municipality of Léchelles, keeping the name Léchelles.
[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 4 April 2011 On 1 January 2016, the former municipalities of
Domdidier
Domdidier (; , locally ) is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Broye (district), district of Broye, in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. On 1 January 2016, the former municipalities of Domdidier, Dompierre, Fribourg, ...
,
Dompierre, Léchelles and
Russy merged to form
Belmont-Broye
Belmont-Broye () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Broye (district), district of Broye, in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. On 1 January 2016, the former municipalities of Domdidier, Dompierre, Fribourg, Dompierre, Léche ...
.
History
Léchelles is first mentioned in 1243 as ''Leschieres''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name ''Leitern'', however, that name is no longer used.
[
]
Geography
Léchelles had an area, , of . Of this area, or 55.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% 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 3.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.7%. Out of the forested land, 36.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 27.9% is used for growing crops and 26.2% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The former municipality is located in the Broye district, between ]Fribourg
or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...
and Payerne
Payerne (; ) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the district of Payerne, and is now part of the district of Broye-Vully. The German name ''Peterlingen'' for the town is out of use.
History
The earliest traces of ...
. It consists of the linear village
In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties:
* linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping'');
* linearity of a ''polynomial''.
An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...
of Léchelles and the village of Chandon.
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 ''Azure a Bend wavy Argent between two Mullets of the same''. The coat of arms is new from the 1994 merger. The wavy stripe comes from the coat of arms of Chandon, while the two stars represent the two municipalities.
Demographics
Léchelles had a population () of 751. , 10.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008]
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 16%. Migration accounted for 11.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 4.2%.
accessed 9 November 2011German
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 ...
is the second most common (41 or 8.2%) and English is the third (3 or 0.6%). 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, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
.[
, the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 266 Swiss men (44.3% of the population) and 35 (5.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 266 Swiss women (44.3%) and 34 (5.7%) non-Swiss women.][Canton of Fribourg Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 201 or about 40.0% were born in Léchelles and lived there in 2000. There were 177 or 35.2% who were born in the same canton, while 86 or 17.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 26 or 5.2% were born outside of Switzerland.[
The age distribution, , in Léchelles is; 75 children or 14.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 58 teenagers or 11.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 69 people or 13.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 77 people or 15.3% are between 30 and 39, 69 people or 13.7% are between 40 and 49, and 62 people or 12.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 44 people or 8.7% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 31 people or 6.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 17 people or 3.4% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 and older.][
, there were 222 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 242 married individuals, 22 widows or widowers and 17 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 194 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household.[ There were 60 households that consist of only one person and 18 households with five or more people. , a total of 188 apartments (90.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (6.3%) were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments (2.9%) 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 3.3 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.38%.][
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
Heritage sites of national significance
The Mansion
A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...
De Gottrau is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 37.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (21.1%), the SVP (18.0%) and the FDP (8.4%).[Canton of Fribourg National Council Election of 23 October 2011 Statistics]
accessed 3 November 2011
The SPS gained an additional 8.6% of the vote from the 2007 Federal election (28.9% in 2007 vs 37.5% in 2011). The CVP lost popularity (26.6% in 2007), the SVP retained about the same popularity (18.2% in 2007) and the FDP moved from below fourth place in 2007 to fourth. A total of 202 votes were cast in this election, of which 2 or 1.0% were invalid.
Economy
, Léchelles had an unemployment rate of 2.3%. , there were 41 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 18 businesses involved in this sector. 12 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 5 businesses in this sector. 48 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 250 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.0% of the workforce.
the total number of ]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 was 80. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 28, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 10 of which 5 were in manufacturing and 5 were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 42. In the tertiary sector; 28 or 66.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 11.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was a technical professional or scientist, 5 or 11.9% were in education.
, there were 23 workers who commuted into the municipality and 195 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 8.5 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 16.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 66% used a private car.[
]
Religion
From the , 380 or 75.5% 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 54 or 10.7% 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 were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.40% of the population), and there were 26 individuals (or about 5.17% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, and 2 (or about 0.40% 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. 31 (or about 6.16% 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 ...
or 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 20 individuals (or about 3.98% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In Léchelles about 164 or (32.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 50 or (9.9%) 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 50 who completed tertiary schooling, 66.0% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women.[
The Canton of Fribourg 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 a three or four year optional upper Secondary school. The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs. After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their 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 ...
.Chart of the education system in Canton Fribourg
During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 59 students attending 3 classes in Léchelles. A total of 103 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 19 students in the municipality. The municipality had 2 primary classes and 40 students. During the same year, there were no lower secondary classes in the municipality, but 24 students attended lower secondary school in a neighboring municipality. There were no upper Secondary classes or vocational classes, but there was one upper Secondary student and 26 upper Secondary vocational students who attended classes in another municipality. The municipality had no non-university Tertiary classes, but there was one non-university Tertiary student and 5 specialized Tertiary students who attended classes in another municipality.[
, there were 28 students in Léchelles who came from another municipality, while 58 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][
]
References
External links
Official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lechelles
Former municipalities of the canton of Fribourg
Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Fribourg
Populated places disestablished in 2016