Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
Origin of the name Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
First written mentions: a church before 1174 and the form « Chesaus » in 1228. The name is said to come from Old French « Cheseaulx », plural of « chesal », a word for a building plot or the ruins of a building; the village would have taken its name from the Roman ruins on which it grew up.
Founding of Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
In the 3rd century AD a Roman villa stood near the present village; columns and a mosaic have been found there, and fragments of Roman tiles and pottery still turn up in the fields. Cheseaux probably grew up in the 10th or 11th century on these ruins. Burgundian graves of the 5th century attest occupation in the early Middle Ages. In the 12th century the village was under a local lord, the knights of Cheseaux, who held the lordship as an allod in 1216. The exact founder of the village is not known.
History of Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
3rd century. Roman villa near the present village; remains of columns and a mosaic.
5th century. Burgundian graves.
10th-11th century. The village probably grows up on the ruins of the Roman settlement.
before 1174. A church dedicated to Saint Nicholas exists in Cheseaux.
around 1179. Cheseaux is the property of the knights of Cheseaux; the community then had 60 to 80 inhabitants (to be cross-checked).
12th-13th century. A first castle stands at the foot of the Morrens hill; in the 13th century the lords build a new castle closer to the village centre.
1216. The lordship of Cheseaux is an allod belonging to the knights of the same name.
1228. Mention as « Chesaus »; Cheseaux is a parish.
15th century. The de Cheseaux family dies out in the middle of the century; the village then passes through several seigneurial families.
1515. The village becomes the possession of Jean Champion.
1557. Cheseaux becomes a fief, held by the Loys family until 1769; it belongs to the Bernese bailiwick of Lausanne. A new castle is rebuilt under the Loys in the 16th century.
1736. The astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Cheseaux (1718-1751) has an observatory set up in Cheseaux.
1741. Construction of the present church on the remains of the earlier building.
1744. Jean-Philippe Loys de Cheseaux publishes his « Traité de la comète », which earns him a European reputation.
1764. Cheseaux is a seigneurial estate of 55 hearths, run by a council known as « des Douze ».
1769. Charles-Louis Loys de Cheseaux (1730-1789), who had inherited it, sells the lordship.
1874. Opening of the Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher (LEB) railway line.
1960. Long agricultural, Cheseaux becomes an industrial municipality; today it is part of the Lausanne conurbation.
1969. The Kudelski company (Nagra recorders) settles here.
2001. Opening of the village bypass road, with a tunnel.
2002. Opening of the new LEB station.
Population of Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
| 1709 | 212 |
| 1764 | 229 |
| 1850 | 421 |
| 1900 | 399 |
| 1930 | 358 |
| 1950 | 409 |
| 1960 | 491 |
| 1970 | 1'579 |
| 1980 | 2'393 |
| 1990 | 2'857 |
| 2000 | 2'939 |
| 2025 | 4'870 |
Historic sites in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
Cheseaux church. Built in 1741 on the remains of the former church of Saint-Nicolas, attested before 1174. At the Reformation the parish of Cheseaux included the chapelry of Sullens and the villages of Bournens and Boussens; Romanel has been attached to it as a chapelry since 1849.
Cheseaux castle. Rebuilt in the 16th century under the Loys, the last seigneurial family of Cheseaux, after a 13th-century castle built in the village centre. It was in the lordship of Cheseaux that Jean-Philippe Loys de Cheseaux had his observatory set up in 1736.
LEB station. The Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher line has served Cheseaux since 1874; a new station opened in 2002.
Remains in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
Roman remains. A Roman villa of the 3rd century AD left columns and a mosaic; fragments of Roman tiles and pottery are still found in the fields. The very name of the village is said to recall these ruins.
Burgundian graves. Burgundian graves of the 5th century have been uncovered in Cheseaux.
Old castle. At the foot of the Morrens hill, the remains of the 12th-century castle of the local lord have been found; the inhabitants call it the « ancien château ».
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Loys de Cheseaux, Jean Philippe »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Loys de Cheseaux, Charles-Louis »
- Commune de Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, « Au fil des siècles »
- Wikipédia, « Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne »
- Statistique Vaud, « Population résidante permanente au 31 décembre 2025 »
Other villages near Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
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