Ersigen

History

Based on a few, individual finds the Ersigen area was settled during the Neolithic era. There is a Hallstatt burial mound in Allmendwald and a Roman storehouse in Murrain. The municipality was originally part of the village of Ösch, but eventually the two halves of the village became independent of each other. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a late-Bronze Age grave in Bühlen. In 886 the Abbey of St. Gall owned property in both Niederösch and Oberösch. In 994, this land was given to Selz Abbey in Alsace. During the 13th and 14th centuries the Kyburg counts also owned land in the village, which they gave as a fief to their vassals. In 1320, Albrecht of Thorberg, a Kyburg vassal, sold land in Niederösch, but retained the local forest and the low court. Later, Albrecht sold the forest and court to the Lords of Rohrmoos. In 1423 Verena of Rohrmoos sold the lower court and the forest to Burgdorf. The city merged the courts of Niederösch, Oberösch, Rumendingen and Bickigen and placed them under the bailiwick of Grasswil. Niederösch has always been a part of the parish of Kirchberg. In 1803 it became part of the district of Burgdorf. The municipality was originally part of the village of Ösch, but eventually the two halves of the village became independent of each other. In 1423, Burgdorf acquired one half of the low court of Oberösch from Verena von Rohrmoos. Later, in the 16th century, Burgdorf bought the other half of the court from Thorberg Chapterhouse. They then combined the two halves and merged the court of Oberösch with the court of Niederösch. Oberösch shared pastures with Ersigen and Rudswil (now part of Ersigen). In 1467, Burgdorf granted the village the right to harvest timber in the Reiteneggwald. In 1525 this was expanded to…

Geography

Ersigen has an area of . Before the 2016 merger it had an area of . Of this area, or 58.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 31.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 6.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.1%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 48.5% is used for growing crops and 8.9% is pastures, while 1.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Most-observed species

• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  11,049
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  7,001
• Eurasian beaver

  Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  3,297
• Annual Fleabane

  Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. · Magnoliopsida
  2,916
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,834
• European badger

  Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  2,446
• Yellow-legged hornet

  Vespa velutina Lepeletier, 1836 · Insecta
  2,437
• Common Toad

  Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Amphibia
  2,335

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 2.7 — 2022-08-23
  4 km S of Turtmann, Switzerland