Châtelat () was a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (Jura Bernois), however a majority of the residents in Châtelat are German speaking. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Châtelat, Monible, Sornetan and Souboz merged to form the new municipality of Petit-Val.
History
Châtelat is first mentioned in 1335 as Schestellat.
For most of the village's history, it belonged to the court and parish of Sornetan under the provost of Moutier-Grandval Abbey. Châtelat remained part of the parish after they both converted to the new faith during the Protestant Reformation in 1531. In the following years, a colony of Mennonites was established in the village of Moron on the slopes of the Moron mountain. Moron was located at the far end of the valley, at an elevation of and like many Mennonite settlements was in a poorly accessible location. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Châtelat became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later, in 1800 it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Châtelat was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. During the period of French control, the village of Fornet-Dessous was an independent municipality. At some point after Bern assumed control, it was integrated into the Châtelat municipality. In 1829 the village of Fornet-Dessous was completely destroyed in a fire.
Today, the village remains fairly rural and agrarian. About two-thirds of the workers work in the municipality and about two-thirds of the jobs in the municipality are in agriculture.
Geography
Before the merger, Châtelat had a total area of . As of 2012, a total of or 54.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 2.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes.
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 1.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.0%. Out of the forested land, 32.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 9.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 2.2% is used for growing crops and 31.8% is pastures and 20.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
The former municipality is located in the Moutier district in the Petit Val. The main village is split in half by the Pichoux-Strasse. It consists of the villages of Châtelat, Moron and Fornet-Dessous. The nearby village of Fornet-Dessus belongs to the municipality of Lajoux.
On 31 December 2009 District de Moutier, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Tower embattled Sable issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert between three Mullets Gules. The coat of arms of Châtelat is an example of canting since the tower is a castle (). The threes stars represent the three parts of the municipality, le Châtelat, le Fornet and Moron.
Demographics
Châtelat had a population (as of 2013) of 105. , 2.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of 0%. Migration accounted for -3.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 0%.
Most of the population () speaks German (78 or 63.9%) as their first language with the rest speaking French.
, the population was 50.5% male and 49.5% female. The population was made up of 55 Swiss men (49.5% of the population) and 1 (0.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 53 Swiss women (47.7%) and 2 (1.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 71 or about 58.2% were born in Châtelat and lived there in 2000. There were 31 or 25.4% who were born in the same canton, while 14 or 11.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 3 or 2.5% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 49.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 23.4%.
, there were 52 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 65 married individuals, 5 widows or widowers and individuals who are divorced.