Wileroltigen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Wileroltigen is first mentioned in 1263 as Wiler sita prope Oltingen. The municipality was formerly known by its French name Ostranges, however, that name is no longer used.
During the Early Middle Ages the region around Wileroltigen belonged to St. Maurice's Abbey. In 962, the Abbey donated the land to Payerne Priory, which held it until the 13th century when the Herrschaft of Oltigen acquired the land. In 1412 the entire Herrschaft, including Wileroltigen, was absorbed by Bern. It was eventually combined with the villages of Gurbrü and Golaten to form a court in the bailiwick of Laupen. The village shared a bridge over the Saane/Sarine River with the village of Marfeldingen (part of the Mühleberg municipality) by 1325. During the 15th century, it was replaced with a ferry. After the Act of Mediation, in 1803, Wileroltigen was assigned to the Canton of Bern despite the protests of the Canton of Fribourg.
In 1528 both Wileroltigen and the parish church at Kerzers converted to the new faith of the Protestant Reformation and the village remained part of the parish of Kerzers. However, the village St. Mary Magdalene chapel was abandoned after the Reformation. A village school opened in 1659.
Geography
Wileroltigen has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 61.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 28.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.6% is either rivers or lakes.
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 3.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.1%. Out of the forested land, 26.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 47.6% is used for growing crops and 12.5% is pastures, while 1.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The municipality is located on the left bank of the Saane/Sarine River near where that river empties into the Aare River.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Laupen, 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 of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Vine tree Vert propped and fructed Or issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupaux of the last.
Demographics
Wileroltigen has a population () of . , 10.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -0.5%. Migration accounted for -0.5%, while births and deaths accounted for 0%.
Most of the population () speaks German (341 or 95.0%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (10 or 2.8%) and Portuguese is the third (2 or 0.6%). There is 1 person who speaks French and 1 person who speaks Italian.
, the population was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. The population was made up of 171 Swiss men (43.5% of the population) and 21 (5.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 181 Swiss women (46.1%) and 20 (5.1%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 134 or about 37.3% were born in Wileroltigen and lived there in 2000. There were 140 or 39.0% who were born in the same canton, while 59 or 16.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 21 or 5.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 10.7%.
, 159 people were single and never married in the municipality. There were 173 married individuals, 15 widows or widowers and 12 individuals who are divorced.
, 30 households consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. , a total of 119 apartments (90.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 12 apartments (9.1%) were seasonally occupied and one apartment was empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.59%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Sights
The entire village of Wileroltigen is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 42.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (21.4%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (12.2%) and the Green Party (6.8%). In the federal election, a total of 131 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 48.3%.