Cressier

Canton of Neuchâtel · Region: Littoral · 2'070 inhabitants (31.12.2025)

Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Cressier

The village first appears in writing in 1180, in the form « Crisciaco ». The etymology is not established with certainty. The most widely repeated hypothesis, put forward by the historian Gonzague de Reynold, sees in it the name of a Gallo-Roman estate, after a settler called « Criscius » (or « Crixsius » according to other records) (to be cross-checked). It fits with the presence of a Gallo-Roman settlement on the Cressier hill (see the Remains section), but remains a hypothesis.

Founding of Cressier

No single founder is known: Cressier, a clustered village at the foot of the Jura on the edge of the Thielle floodplain, formed slowly around a Gallo-Roman settlement (a villa and probably a temple dedicated to Mars, on the hill), before becoming a parish and then a rural community in the Middle Ages. In 1180 the Bishop of Lausanne gave the church of Cressier, which stood above the village, to the abbey of Fontaine-André; from 1329 the abbey could choose the parish priest from among its monks. The parish included Enges. Between 1212 and 1220 the inhabitants marked out their common pasture, a sign of an already organised community. Franchises granted in 1260 by Count Rodolphe de Neuchâtel are also reported (to be cross-checked). From the 14th century most families were burghers of Le Landeron, while the commune of Cressier took shape within the châtellenie of Le Landeron. The municipality also includes the hamlet of Frochaux.

History of Cressier

Prehistory. A Middle Bronze Age burial mound (12 m in diameter, 2 m high, made of Alpine pebbles and Jura limestone) is built at La Baraque, in the Eter forest, at 730 m above sea level. A man who had undergone the beginning of a frontal trepanation is buried in it with high-ranking grave goods (pin, axe, dagger blade, decorated gold ring). The mound is reused in the Hallstatt D period for a man and two women. Excavated in 1936-1937 by Paul Vouga and Samuel Perret, its finds are now at the Laténium (Hauterive).

Gallo-Roman period. Establishment of a Roman villa and probable temple on the Cressier hill. Steles dedicated to Mars and the Celtic goddess Naria are found there, now kept at the Laténium.

6th-7th century. A church may already have stood on the site of the former Gallo-Roman temple (to be cross-checked); excavations carried out in 2013-2016 under the church of Saint-Martin uncovered 7th-century burials, a sign of a very ancient place of worship.

1180. First written mention of the village in the form « Crisciaco ». The Bishop of Lausanne gives the church of Cressier, located above the village, with its property, to the abbey of Fontaine-André.

1212-1220. The inhabitants mark out the boundaries of their common pastures, a sign of a structured village community.

1260. Count Rodolphe de Neuchâtel is said to have granted the village its first franchises (to be cross-checked).

14th century. Most families are burghers of Le Landeron; at the same time the commune of Cressier takes shape, as part of the châtellenie of Le Landeron.

1329. The abbey of Fontaine-André obtains the right to choose the parish priest of Cressier from among its monks.

1373. The inhabitants of Cressier, then subjects of Le Landeron, are included in the co-citizenship treaty concluded between Countess Isabelle de Neuchâtel and the town of Soleure.

1396. First document attesting to a wine trade in Cressier, at the origin of the village's long winegrowing tradition.

circa 1424. Gothic reconstruction of the choir of the church of Saint-Martin.

1457 / 1518. Founding of the Vallier chapel (1457), then of the Rosary chapel (1518).

16th century. At the Reformation, Soleure and the powerful Vallier family prevent the new faith from being established: the area of Cressier and Le Landeron remains the only Catholic one in the county of Neuchâtel. From 1517, two castellans and two governors from the Vallier family succeed one another.

1560. Pierre Vallier has the village's first school built.

1610-1616. Governor Jacques (Jacob) Vallier has the château of Cressier built, a spacious rectangular residence with four corner towers and a crenellated wall. It is then the largest residence in the region.

1630. A tannery sets up on the banks of the Thielle; its premises are later used by a printed cotton (indiennes) factory, active from 1728 to 1763. When it closed, Cressier became a winegrowing and farming village again, with a few small watchmaking workshops.

1645. Jacques d'Estavayer, lord of Mollondin, governor and later field marshal, leaves his mark on the village; his son François-Louis-Blaise d'Estavayer distinguishes himself in the Swiss Guards Regiment.

1707. The burghers of Cressier refuse to pay homage to the King of Prussia, then Prince of Neuchâtel.

1764. Jean-Jacques Rousseau passes through Cressier.

Late 18th century. Cressier takes in more than 400 refugees from the French Revolution.

1802. The widow of Jean-Baptiste Ruedin opens the Hôtel de la Couronne with a wine cellar, at the origin of the many wine houses bearing the name Ruedin.

1859. Opening of Cressier station, on the Neuchâtel-Bienne line; it hardly changes the winegrowing and farming character of the village.

1868-1888. During the first correction of the Jura waters, the château of Thielle is exchanged with Bern for the island between the new canal and the former watercourse (the « Vieille Thielle »); the commune of Cressier thus receives this territory of about 70 hectares.

1872. The cantonal water engineer Jaques Louis Léo Jeanjaquet (sometimes called « Eugène Jeanjaquet » in other sources) buys the former rectory and its wine estate, after its deconsecration.

1872-1876. Commissioned by him, the architect Léo Châtelain transforms the property into a « small château » in neo-medieval style, keeping the old elements (chapel, small bell tower, stair tower): this is the present-day château Jeanjaquet.

1872-1876. Construction of the new neo-Gothic Catholic church, dedicated like the old one to Saint Martin, in the centre of the village on the site of a Rosary chapel, on the initiative of Abbé Raymond Vuichard; sources date it to 1872 or to 1873-1876 (to be cross-checked).

1888. The painter Gustave Jeanneret (born in Môtiers in 1847) and his wife Emma buy another house in the village, where he sets up an artist's studio in the attic; this house, today the Maison Gustave Jeanneret, is to be distinguished from the nearby château Jeanjaquet.

1899. Opening of the Hospice, today the Home Saint-Joseph.

1945-1966. After 1945 the locality industrialised: a potato processing plant and a pump factory were established. In 1966 the oil refinery opened (Shell, then the Dutch group Petroplus from 2000), linked to Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille by the South European and Neuchâtel Jura pipelines; it employed 240 people in 1984 and 197 in 2000.

1966. Creation of the Vieille Thielle nature reserve.

1995 / 1999. Layout of the new village square (1995) and opening of the Caveau de l'Entre-deux-Lacs (1999).

2013-2016. Archaeological excavations under the former church of Saint-Martin, revealing 7th-century burials.

Population of Cressier

432

1750

607

1850

794

1900

957

1950

1'530

1970

1'923

2000

2'088

2007

1'892

2020

1'888

2022

1'920

2023

2'070

2025

Historic sites in Cressier

Château de Cressier (1610-1616). Built by Governor Jacques Vallier, this rectangular château with four corner towers and a crenellated wall was the largest residence in the region at the time. It today houses the school and the communal administration.

Former church of Saint-Martin. The only medieval religious building in the canton to have remained in private hands. Romanesque construction documented from 1180, Gothic choir rebuilt around 1424, chapel added in the 16th century. Listed as a historic monument since 1954.

Château Jeanjaquet. Former rectory and wine estate bought in 1872 by the cantonal water engineer Jaques Louis Léo Jeanjaquet (called « Eugène Jeanjaquet » in some other sources), who has it transformed by the architect Léo Châtelain (1872-1876): a floor fitted out in the attic and an imposing machicolated tower built, while keeping the original chapel, small bell tower and stair tower. Listed as a historic monument since 2000. Not to be confused with the Maison Gustave Jeanneret, a quite different house in the village.

Maison Vallier. A 16th-century patrician residence built on a vault, adorned with a corner turret with a sundial. Pierre Vallier is buried there in the adjoining chapel. It today serves as a venue for events.

Maison Gustave Jeanneret. Property acquired in 1729 by Governor Paul de Froment, decorated in the mid-18th century with Régence-style frescoes with Chinese motifs. Bought in 1888 by the painter Gustave Jeanneret and his wife Emma, who set up a painting studio in the attic; the architect Léo Châtelain remodels it in 1898 in Heimatstil style, with a corner turret and the conversion of the old wine press into a dining room. Listed as a historic monument since 1975.

La Vieille Thielle. A former meander of the Thielle which once formed the border between Bern and Neuchâtel, today a nature reserve of about 70 hectares, with protected wildlife (including the beaver).

Catholic church of Saint-Martin (1872-1876). A neo-Gothic church built in the centre of the village on the site of a Rosary chapel, dedicated like the old church to Saint Martin. It preserves furnishings from the old chapels, including a crucifix that may date from the 13th-14th century.

Remains in Cressier

Tumulus de la Baraque. Middle Bronze Age burial mound (12 m in diameter, 2 m high), excavated in 1936-1937 in the Eter forest, where a high-ranking man lay (pin, axe, dagger blade, decorated gold ring). Reused in the Hallstatt D period for a man, with a biconical vessel, and two women adorned with bronze and lignite bracelets and belt hooks. Test pits dug in 1940 nearby revealed pavings and hearths from the Bronze Age and the Hallstatt period, and elongated mounds and cultivation terraces show occupation from the Middle Bronze Age to Roman times. Finds kept at the Laténium (Hauterive).

Gallo-Roman steles dedicated to Mars and Naria. Discovered on the Cressier hill, the probable site of a Gallo-Roman temple; kept at the Laténium.

7th-century burials under the church of Saint-Martin. Uncovered during the 2013-2016 archaeological excavations, they confirm the great age of the place of worship, predating the Romanesque church mentioned from 1180.

Fragment of Roman stone. A fragment of Roman stone is kept in the former Restaurant du Chasseur, a building that also served as a hospital (1518) and then as the village's first school (1560).

Celtic coin of the Pictones. Before 1870 a silver coin (quinarius) from Late La Tène, attributed to the Celtic tribe of the Pictones, was found in the vineyards of Cressier.

Burials in the gravel pit between Cornaux and Cressier. In 1892 six skeletons buried directly in the ground were exhumed in a gravel pit between Cornaux and Cressier; one wore three bronze bracelets with buffer ends and another a lignite bracelet from the Hallstatt period. In 1908 a bronze bracelet decorated with grooves, attributable to Early La Tène, was found at the same spot.

Sources

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