Onnens
Origin of the name Onnens
Old forms: «Unens» in 1228, «curatus de Onnens» in 1361, «Onnens» in 1453. The name is said to be formed from a Germanic male personal name such as «Huno» or «Unno» and the suffix «-ingos», very common in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg, meaning «at the home of the people of» (to be cross-checked).
Founding of Onnens
The territory of Onnens has been occupied almost without interruption since about 8000 BC: excavations carried out before the construction of the A5 motorway uncovered remains from the Mesolithic to the modern period, including a Neolithic child burial, a Late Bronze Age village and an open Iron Age village on the hill of Le Motti. None of the sources consulted names a founder of the medieval village; its name suggests a settlement linked to a group with a Germanic name (to be cross-checked). In the Middle Ages, Onnens formed a mayorie, a court made up of the mayor, a clerk and twelve jurors, dependent on the lordship of Montagny; with it, it was incorporated into the common bailiwick of Grandson (1484-1798), then into the district of Grandson. A parish from 1228, its church of Saint-Martin depended on the charterhouse of La Lance. The inhabitants are nicknamed the Droolers («lè Béviâo» or «lè Baveur», the drinkers in Vaud patois).
History of Onnens
around 8000 BC. Beginning of an almost uninterrupted occupation of the territory, notably at the place called Praz Berthoud, near a permanent spring.
4700-4500 BC. Burial of a child aged about three at Praz Berthoud, considered the oldest known burial in the canton of Vaud.
Neolithic. Neolithic stations; erection of menhirs and of a dolmen at Praz Berthoud.
1280-800 BC. Late Bronze Age village: post-built buildings in rows (1280-1200 BC), then large rectangular hearths (1050-800 BC).
Iron Age. Open village on the hill of Le Motti, a major site of the Swiss Plateau for this period, and two burial mounds.
Roman period. Traces of occupation, including a brooch.
1228. First mention, «Unens»; Onnens is already a parish.
1361. Mention of a «curatus de Onnens».
Middle Ages. Onnens forms a mayorie dependent on the lordship of Montagny; the church of Saint-Martin depends on the charterhouse of La Lance.
1484. Together with Montagny, Onnens joins the common bailiwick of Grandson, administered by Bern and Fribourg until 1798.
16th century. With the Reformation, Onnens forms a parish with Bonvillars.
1722. Rebuilding of the church, which keeps its Gothic choir (to be cross-checked).
1779. Date of a bell of the temple bearing the municipal coat of arms with the crayfish.
1798. Onnens joins the district of Grandson, to which it belongs until 2007; from 1798 to 1803 it belongs to the canton of Léman.
1846. Onnens is attached to the parish of Concise.
1973. Construction of a warehouse.
1990. A cigarette production line of the Fabriques de tabac réunies (Philip Morris) is set up.
1995-2004. Archaeological excavations along the route of the A5 motorway: eight of the sixteen sites on the Yverdon-Neuchâtel section are in Onnens.
2005. Opening of the A5 motorway.
2008. Onnens belongs to the new district of Jura-Nord vaudois.
2019. After Philip Morris leaves, the Swiss logistics centre of Decathlon settles in Onnens.
Population of Onnens
| 1803 | 258 |
| 1850 | 328 |
| 1900 | 341 |
| 1950 | 275 |
| 1970 | 223 |
| 2000 | 397 |
| 2022 | 495 |
| 2025 | 527 |
Historic sites in Onnens
Church of Saint-Martin. Reformed church listed as a cultural property of national importance. Mentioned as a parish from 1228 and dependent in the Middle Ages on the charterhouse of La Lance, it preserves a Gothic choir decorated with wall paintings (Entombment, Last Judgement) dated to the 15th century (another source gives the 14th century, to be cross-checked). It has stained-glass windows by the Polish painter Józef Mehoffer.
Village listed in the ISOS. The whole village, with its 18th- and 19th-century farmhouses, is listed in the Federal Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites of national importance.
La Chassagne. Dry, steppe-like slope, listed in the Federal Inventory of Dry Grasslands and Pastures of national importance.
Remains in Onnens
Dolmen of Praz Berthoud. Megalithic monument presented as the first attested megalith in the canton of Vaud and open to the public; another source describes it as a destroyed dolmen (to be cross-checked).
Menhirs. The municipal territory has several menhirs, including the Menhir de la Vernette (to be cross-checked).
Praz Berthoud site. Place occupied in more than fifteen different periods: flints over 10'000 years old, a Bronze Age pin, two Iron Age burial mounds, a Roman brooch, a medieval water pipe and the grave of a child dated 4700-4500 BC.
Hill of Le Motti. Open Iron Age village excavated in the 2000s: houses of wood or rammed earth painted black, white and perhaps red, and about 60'000 pottery sherds.
Late Bronze Age village. Discovered beneath the motorway route, it had at least six post-built buildings and yielded traces of bronze working, pottery, textile work, grain milling and livestock farming.
Legends of Onnens
The one-clawed crayfish. The coat of arms of Onnens shows a red crayfish missing its left claw. According to tradition, in an old division of property with Montagny, it was Montagny that received the missing claw.
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Onnens (VD) »
- Wikipédia, « Onnens (Vaud) »
- Wikipedia (de), « Onnens VD »
- Commune d'Onnens, « Fouilles archéologiques »
- État de Vaud, « Sous l'autoroute, un village de l'âge du Bronze final à Onnens » (2014)
- Feuille des avis officiels du canton de Vaud, « Alphabet des communes vaudoises : Onnens »
- Statistique Vaud, « Population résidante permanente au 31 décembre 2025 »
Other villages near Onnens
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