Kernenried

History

Kernenried was first mentioned around 1261-63 as Reide, in 1318 it was mentioned as Kerrenriet. The earliest trace of a settlement in the area is a Hallstatt grave mound near Oberholz-Schulwald. A horde of Roman era coins was discovered near the border with Zauggenried. During the Middle Ages the Herrschaft of Kernenried was owned by the Ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) family of Kerro, who were in the service of the Counts of Kyburg. The Kerro family ruled Kernenried from their water castle in Mösli. However, the castle was destroyed by Bern in 1318 and the Kerro lands were acquired by Bern. In the following years, the Bernese patrician von Erlach family received the village as part of a dowry. In 1579 the village was given to the obere Spital in Bern to help support this hospital. After the Act of Mediation in 1803, the village was assigned to Burgdorf district. The village chapel was supported by the Kirchberg parish. After the Protestant Reformation the chapel was abandoned and eventually demolished. The village remains part of the Kirchberg parish. Even though the proximity of a highway has encouraged some commuters to move into the village, it has retained its agricultural and small business character. Together with the nearby municipality of Zauggenried, they form a school district.

Geography

Kernenried has an area of . Of this area, or 60.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 23.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 14.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.5% of the area Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 51.4% is used for growing crops and 7.5% is pastures, while 1.2% 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
  10,779
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  6,946
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  4,039
• Annual Fleabane

  Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. · Magnoliopsida
  3,641
• Eurasian beaver

  Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  3,205
• Common Toad

  Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Amphibia
  2,924
• Yellow-legged hornet

  Vespa velutina Lepeletier, 1836 · Insecta
  2,918
• European badger

  Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  2,453

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