Breitenegg, Rüedisbach, Ferrenberg, Mistelberg – the list can easily be extended. When it comes to "not mentioned" small villages and hamlets, Wynigen has a good number to offer. Think of Leggiswil, Kappelen, Schwanden and – not to mention – crusher houses with the famous "Glungge" from the films of Franz Schnyder & # 39; s Gotthelf.
And although Wynigen is of course not the only municipality in the Emmental whose inhabitants live far and wide, one wonders: why did the Wynigers move to the Höger? Why did you come out of the valley? Let's ask. For someone who has been thinking about and about the place for years: Walter Christen, Ur-Wyniger, Alt-Farmer, Alt-Grossrat, Alt-Gemeinderat, interested in local history and reading accordingly.
"The Kappeler resisted and were successful, her school building is still in operation."Walter Christians
Together with his family he lives in one of the many hamlets around the village, in Mösli behind Leggiswil. "I can not prove it scientifically," explains Christian, "but it must have been that at one point the spot in the valley was scarce." So the people had avoided the Wynigenberge.
This assumption is obvious. Not in the last place because "in the high" not inhospitable rocks wait for the people, but gently sloping, overgrown by forest land. So that we understand each other correctly: the area is gently undulating, especially for the eye of the viewer and the legs of an experienced walker. However, if you want to plant and harvest something here, you must already have a good condition – or, more recently, machines that have been built for slopes.
The Romans were there
On the heights above Wynigen people have not been romp for just one or two hundred years. In the local book, which was made in 1985 on the occasion of the 800-year jubilee of the community, it is written that the hills were opened much earlier with traffic routes. Of course there was the road in the valley, from Burgdorf via Wynigen to Langenthal. The Romans should have been there already.
Later, in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Zähringer were active in the area. They created the first paths about the heights in their time. According to the local book, the most important thing was that from Burgdorf via the Lueg to Huttwil. From this main connection a feeder left for Schwanden Castle and to Wynigen.
A third connection eventually led through a ravine of Wynigen on the Bühl, Oberbühl, Ferrenberg in the direction of Huttwil. Some of these ancient caves are still preserved. And they bring us back to the search for clues to the Aussiedlern. They used, just like Christians, precisely these connections for their movements. There was no other way to go up the hills.
They were farmers
So far, so good. Now we know why and how people came to the Wynigen Mountains. But what did you do there? They ran agriculture. "Everyone was first and foremost self-sufficient," says Christen. And so it is clear why most hamlets today still have a very agricultural character. Sedate farms, beautiful Stöckli and storage dominate the construction groups. Which does not mean that the people up there just had it. First of all, it was time to clean up the forest, then build houses and finally edit fields.
Walter Christen knows the best of Wynigen. Photo: Thomas Peter
Walter Christen no longer keeps it at his kitchen table. "Come on, let's go to the Oberbühlchnel, I want to show you everything at a glance." With its all-terrain vehicle, the senior rides almost to the top of the familiar vantage point. We walk the last few meters. The sky is not clear, but the view is breathtaking. On one side of the Jura, on the other side the Bernese Alps – covered by clouds on this day, but well to foresee.
And in between it seems that the world only consists of the Wynigen community. Walter Christen starts to enumerate: Rüedisbach is visible, then the Breitenegg, the Mistelberg and – very close, almost at our feet – the Ferrenberg, to which the Oberbühlchnel belongs. By the way, here you are at 818 meters above sea level.
Pass past
The hamlets in the Wynigen Hills not only have a turbulent, but also a successful past. Once Wynigen was a city in the middle of the village, Rüedisbach, Kappelen and Mistelberg. The community also had a school building at each of these four locations. Which were closed in Rüedisbach and Mistelberg because of the lack of students. "De Kappeler oppose", says Walter Christen, "and were successful, her school building is still in operation." He was happy with that today, he adds.
Less successful than the Kappeler had the former seven cheese cooperatives. They were all solved. One or the other of the cheese factories now serves as a collection point for milk. Even small companies gave and gave it in the Wynigenbergen.
"Shoemaker, tailor, carpenter, Wagner, they all had their bread," explains Walter Christen. When the trade between the mountains and the valley began to roll with the craftsmen, the construction of the roads began. "The old empty roads could only be used on foot or by horse and cart," explains Christian. For cars they were possibly unsuitable, let alone for trucks.
Streets had to come
The people on the hills fought to get better roads. Some even to death. For example, there was a farmer who, in his will, decided that part of his heritage was used for road construction. In the period around 1890 until the 1920s and the 1930s, the current traffic routes arose. But even this achievement did not only happen with the & # 39; salvors & # 39 ;.
The community saw that the larger connections were made. People had to search for the access roads to their farms and groups of houses themselves. "Sometimes up to 11 communities were active," says Walter Christen. Everyone pulled in the so-called Wegtell and with this money the driveways were financed.
The conversation is over, time to return to the office. "Follow this road", says Walter Christen and points to a dirt road. "It is not tarred, but that is how you see a little more of the church." Well, if he means. After about two kilometers the road has been reached, which would actually lead directly to the village. Back to the office? No, why not make a short trip to the Wynigenberge? Along cultivated farms in Oberbühl, Brechershäusern, Rüedisbach, Wil, houses, Ferrenberg, Friesenberg, Kappelen, Fuhren, Mistelberg, Hofholz, Schwanden. ,,
(Berner newspaper)
Created: 08/20/2018, 07:46
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