Gressy

Origin of the name Gressy

The name Gressy is first attested with certainty in 1228, in the form Grissie. An earlier mention, in the form Crissie ante Belmunt, is said to have been recorded as early as 1150, but this earlier date comes from a single source consulted and would deserve to be cross-checked before being considered definitively established. In the following centuries the name evolved through several successive spellings: Gressey (1187), Grizie (1245), Grissye (1317), then Grissiez (1453), before the spelling gradually settled on Gressy. Two etymological hypotheses coexist without a definitive consensus having emerged: the first links the name to the Roman gentile name Criscius, which is also said to have given rise to the names Crissier and Cressier; the second instead sees an origin in the gentile name Gracius or Gratius, which would better explain the old forms beginning with a G.

Founding of Gressy

Gressy has no precise founding date or identified founder: like most villages in the region, it formed gradually around a rural settlement core, on the northern slope of the Gros-de-Vaud plateau, above the small Buron valley. From 1154, the place fell under the seigneury of Belmont, which would later become a châtellenie under Bernese rule; it was within this seigneurial framework that the village structured itself administratively over the centuries. An organized village community is mentioned as early as 1390, and bodies of local governance appear in 1433. The neighbouring hamlet of Sermuz, which holds the remains of a former Celtic oppidum, was administratively merged with Gressy in 1764.

History of Gressy

Around the middle of the 1st century BC. A late Celtic oppidum is established on the hill of Sermuz, protected by a rampart of the murus gallicus type, a construction technique described by Julius Caesar.

1154. Gressy falls under the seigneury of Belmont.

1228. First certain written mention of the village, in the form Grissie.

1390. An organized village community is mentioned at Gressy.

1433. Bodies of local governance are set up in the village.

1439. A chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony is added to the Saint-Martin parish church.

1536. The Bernese conquest of the Pays de Vaud places the region under Bernese administration; the seigneury of Belmont gradually becomes a châtellenie, with Gressy, to be cross-checked, said to have served as the summer residence of the bailiff of Yverdon.

1689. The village's presbytery is built in Bernese style.

1764. The hamlet of Sermuz is administratively merged with Gressy; the village then has 146 inhabitants.

1798. The fall of the Ancien Régime ends the seigneurial system; Gressy passes through the canton of Léman before being attached to the district of Yverdon.

1850. The population reaches its known historical peak, with 222 inhabitants.

1966. The village school closes its doors.

1980. After a marked rural exodus, the population drops to 125 inhabitants, its known lowest level.

1984. An archaeological excavation uncovers the Celtic rampart of the Sermuz oppidum, over a length of about 130 metres.

31 August 2006. The reform of the Vaud districts dissolves the former district of Yverdon; Gressy joins the new district of Jura-Nord vaudois.

1 July 2011. Gressy merges with the municipality of Yverdon-les-Bains and loses its status as an independent municipality.

Population of Gressy

Population of Gressy

1764	146
1850	222
1900	218
1980	125
2000	139
2010	167

Historic sites in Gressy

Saint-Martin parish church. Of Romanesque origin, the church is mentioned as early as the 12th century. Remodelled in the 15th century, it retains wall paintings from that period as well as a statue and relics of its patron saint. A chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony was added to it in 1439. The parish of Gressy then also included the neighbouring villages of Belmont and Valeyres-sous-Ursins.

Bernese presbytery of 1689. Built in the characteristic style of Bernese architecture, the village presbytery reflects the Bernese administration of the region after the 1536 conquest.

Farmhouses from the 17th to 19th centuries. The village retains several substantial farmhouses built between the 17th and 19th centuries, testifying to the old agricultural vocation of Gressy.

Remains in Gressy

Celtic rampart of the Sermuz oppidum. On the hill of Sermuz, a few kilometres from Yverdon-les-Bains, stood a late Celtic oppidum occupied from the middle of the 1st century BCE. In 1984, an archaeological excavation uncovered a rampart with a ditch, about 130 metres long, more than 6 metres wide and of comparable height. Its construction, of the murus gallicus type described by Julius Caesar, combines a framework of crossed beams filled with earth and a dry-stone facing. A partial reconstruction is visible on site, and a model is displayed at the Yverdon-les-Bains museum. The site is listed as a cultural property of national importance.

Sources

• Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (HLS/DHS), article "Gressy" (n° 002639)
• Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), article "Gressy VD" (n° 002639)
• Wikipédia FR, article "Gressy (Vaud)"
• Wikipedia DE, article "Gressy VD"
• Wikipedia EN, article "Gressy, Switzerland"
• Philippe Curdy, "Le murus gallicus de Sermuz près d'Yverdon-les-Bains VD", Archéologie Suisse, vol. 8 (1985), p. 230-235

Other villages near Gressy

• Belmont-sur-Yverdon (VD)
• Valeyres-sous-Ursins (VD)
• Épendes (VD)
• Ursins (VD)
• Pomy (VD)