L'Abergement
Origin of the name L'Abergement
The name comes from an old term of feudal law: land «given en abergement» was land granted by contract to be cultivated, in return for an agreed price and annual dues in money, wine or kind. The date of the first written mention was not found in the sources consulted.
Founding of L'Abergement
L'Abergement is a street village at the foot of the Jura, which also includes the hamlet of Vailloud. Megaliths at the place called Planche Permis bear witness to an early human presence on its territory. No source consulted names a founder, but the name itself points to the village's origin: land granted «en abergement», that is, entrusted to tenants who were to clear and farm it in return for dues. In the Middle Ages L'Abergement was part of the lordship of Les Clées. The municipal territory, covering 572 hectares, rises from the farming plain (620 to 780 metres) to the forests and pastures of the Jura (1'200 to 1'460 metres). The village has always kept an agricultural and craft character.
History of L'Abergement
date unknown. Megaliths at the place called Planche Permis (dating not specified in the sources consulted).
Middle Ages. L'Abergement is part of the lordship of Les Clées.
1536. Bernese conquest of Vaud: the village is attached to the bailiwick of Yverdon and the castellany of Les Clées (until 1798). It comes under the court of Rances and Valeyres and is governed by a council made up of one third of the commune's burghers, rotating every year.
17th century. Construction of a few houses still standing in the village.
1621. The Fribourg family Boccardier owns land and quitrents in L'Abergement.
1699. The village has 180 inhabitants.
1798. In February L'Abergement is one of the communes that reject Peter Ochs's constitution; it then becomes part of the district of Orbe (until 2006).
1845. Birth in Lausanne of Eugène Grasset (1845-1917), burgher of L'Abergement, later a painter and creator of «La Semeuse», the emblem of the Larousse publishing house.
1856. A monthly service begins to be held in the schoolroom.
1900. On 1 March the General Council votes to build a church.
1902. Construction of the village church.
1929-1931. Two designs for the arms are proposed; one appears in 1931 in the Armorial of the Communes of Vaud, but is replaced by the one a resident donates to the church as a stained-glass window: Or, a wolf ravissant sable, accompanied in sinister chief by a hurdle of the same.
1941. The church receives stained glass by Eugène Grasset, originally intended for Lausanne Cathedral and adapted by Robert Grasset.
1950s. Land consolidation.
1970. Construction of a community hall.
1991-1992. Complete renovation of the municipal building.
2000. The village moves from the parish of Rances to that of Ballaigues-Lignerolle.
2006. Dissolution of the district of Orbe: L'Abergement joins the district of Jura-Nord vaudois.
2017. The municipal shelter is destroyed by fire, then rebuilt.
Population of L'Abergement
| 1699 | 180 |
| 1764 | 182 |
| 1850 | 318 |
| 1900 | 227 |
| 1980 | 146 |
| 1988 | 165 |
| 2000 | 235 |
| 2022 | 260 |
| 2025 | 267 |
Historic sites in L'Abergement
L'Abergement church and the Eugène Grasset windows. Church built in 1902 (1901 according to another source, to be cross-checked), whose construction the General Council had voted in 1900. Since 1941 it has had stained-glass windows designed by the painter Eugène Grasset (1845-1917), burgher of L'Abergement, originally intended for Lausanne Cathedral; they depict among others Jeremiah, St John the Baptist, Christ in Glory and St Paul, and were made by the glassmakers Guignard and Schmit.
Street village and old houses. The village stretches along its main street and preserves a few 17th-century houses, a fountain with wash-house and the municipal building, renovated in 1991-1992.
Remains in L'Abergement
Megaliths of Planche Permis. Megaliths are recorded at the place called Planche Permis; the sources consulted give neither their date nor their purpose.
Pierre de Bonchâteau. Erratic boulder, left by the glaciers, on the municipal territory.
Legends of L'Abergement
The Wolves. The inhabitants are nicknamed the Wolves («lè Lâo» in Vaud patois), perhaps because villagers are said to have met these animals near the forests of the area; a wolf also appears in the municipal arms.
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Abergement, L' »
- Commune de L'Abergement, « Le village de l'Abergement »
- Commune de L'Abergement, « Bâtiments »
- Feuille des avis officiels du canton de Vaud, « Alphabet des communes vaudoises : L'Abergement »
- EERV, paroisse de Ballaigues-Lignerolle, « L'église du village : quelle histoire ! »
- Wikipédia, « L'Abergement »
- Statistique Vaud, « Population résidante permanente au 31 décembre 2025 »
Other villages near L'Abergement
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