Vilars
Origin of the name Vilars
The village is recorded in 1191 as « in Vilar ». The name comes from Late Latin « villare », which meant a small rural estate or a group of farms dependent on a villa, in other words a hamlet; the same root appears in many French-speaking Swiss place names ending in -villars, -villiers or -vilard, including Boudevilliers.
Founding of Vilars
Vilars has no known founder or foundation charter. Roman remains show that the site was occupied early. In the Middle Ages the village belonged to the lordship and later the mairie of Valangin and to the parish of Saint-Blaise. With Fenin and Saules it formed a community to use the Chaumont forests (1488 and 1534), dissolved in 1865. A village of farming and forestry, Vilars kept its own institutions until it was joined with Fenin and Saules in a single municipalité in 1875, followed by the full merger of 1888 that created the municipality of Fenin-Vilars-Saules.
History of Vilars
Roman period. Roman remains on the village territory.
1191. First record of the village, as « in Vilar ».
before 1453-1558. Vilars belongs to the parish of Saint-Blaise, then to that of Engollon after the Reformation.
1488. With Fenin and Saules, Vilars forms a community for the use of the Chaumont forests, confirmed in 1534.
1526. A boundary stone carved with coats of arms is set up on Chaumont during a border demarcation.
1531. The village has 5 hearths (households).
1794. The Neuchâtel-Saint-Imier road links the three villages.
1840. A building for the fire engines is constructed.
1850. The village has 153 inhabitants.
1863. Vilars becomes the seat of a joint school with Fenin, Saules and Engollon.
1865. The Chaumont forest-use community is dissolved.
1870. The village has 188 inhabitants.
1875. Vilars, Fenin and Saules are joined in a single municipalité.
1880. The schoolhouse of the three villages is built; it also houses the municipal administration.
1888. Under the law on communes, the municipalité and the burgher communes merge: the municipality of Fenin-Vilars-Saules is created.
2011. On 27 November, the voters of Fenin-Vilars-Saules approve the merger of the Val-de-Ruz municipalities (to be cross-checked).
2012. At the last census before the merger (31 December), the municipality of Fenin-Vilars-Saules has 846 inhabitants.
2013. On 1 January, Fenin-Vilars-Saules and fourteen other municipalities form the municipality of Val-de-Ruz; Vilars becomes one of its localities.
Population of Vilars
| 1531 | 5 hearths (households) |
| 1850 | 153 |
| 1870 | 188 |
Historic sites in Vilars
The 1880 schoolhouse. Built in 1880 for the schoolchildren of the three villages, it also housed the municipal administration of Fenin-Vilars-Saules. Vilars had been the seat of the joint school since 1863.
The former fire-engine shed. On the cantonal road, this building, constructed in 1840, housed the village fire engines.
The Lorimier-Dessoulavy farm. North of the road, a farmhouse bears the names of Jean-Jacques Lorimier and Jeanne-Marie Dessoulavy.
The triangulation marker. On the heights above Vilars, near the picnic area, stands a triangulation marker.
Coat of arms and nickname. The coat of arms of Fenin-Vilars-Saules combined elements of the three villages (fir tree, axes), but their attribution to Vilars or Saules varies between sources (to be cross-checked). The people of Vilars were nicknamed the « Couennes de lard » (to be cross-checked).
Remains in Vilars
Roman remains. Roman remains have been found at Vilars, a sign that the site was occupied long before the first record of 1191.
The 1526 boundary stone on Chaumont. On Chaumont, a carved boundary stone of 1526 bearing coats of arms, protected by three small stones, was set up during a border demarcation. The arms are said to be those of Neuchâtel and Challant-Valangin (to be cross-checked).
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Vilars » (Maurice Evard, version du 16.11.2016)
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Fenin-Vilars-Saules » (Dominique Quadroni, version du 14.02.2017)
- État de Neuchâtel, arrêté du 6 février 2013 portant homologation des résultats du recensement cantonal de la population du 31 décembre 2012
- Commune de Val-de-Ruz, « À voir ou visiter »
- Commune de Val-de-Ruz, « La commune en bref »
- Henry Suter, « Noms de lieux de Suisse romande, Savoie et environs », entrée Vilars
- Association Chemins-Chouettes, « Villages vaudruziens : blasons, noms, surnoms »
- Wikipédia (allemand), « Vilars NE »
- Wikipédia (anglais), « Fenin-Vilars-Saules »
- Wikipédia (anglais simplifié), « Vilars »
- Wikipédia (français), « Seigneurie de Valangin »
Other villages near Vilars
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