Roggwil is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Roggwil is first mentioned in 949 as Rocchonuuillare.
A variety of Roman era objects and fragments of buildings or small settlement have been found in Roggwil. During the High Middle Ages the village was guarded by a fort at Chülperg. It was owned by the Barons of Bechburg and was directly ruled by a branch of this family that took their name from the village. When St. Urban's Abbey was founded in 1194, the Lords of Roggwil granted the Abbey land in the village. Through donations and purchase the Abbey grew to become the primary landlord and ruler over the village by 1250. In 1406 the city of Bern bought the County of Burgundy, which included Roggwil, from the Kyburgs. In 1413 Bern was able to gain control of the courts of the Roggwil and sharply restricted the Abbey's power. Initially the village shared a low court with Wynau and was part of the Amt of Wangen. Between 1580 and 1590 it was reallocated to the Amt of Aarwangen. After the 1798 French invasion, Roggwil attempted to join the Canton of Aarau under the Helvetic Republic, but it was assigned to the Bernese district of Langenthal. In 1803, under the Act of Mediation, it became part of the district of Aarwangen.
The village church was first mentioned in 1201 as a daughter church of the parish church in Wynau. In 1664, Roggwil, Balzenwil, Gruben and Walliswil formed an independent parish. The current church was built in 1664–65, while the Catholic one was built in 1973 and the New Apostolic Church was finished in 1985.
In the 18th and 19th century the population began to grow as cottage industry weaving began to supplement agriculture. In 1857 the Olten-Bern railway built a station in Roggwil. This was followed by the narrow-gauge Langenthal-Roggwil-Melchnau line in 1917. The railroad promoted industrialization in the formerly agrarian village. A cotton mill opened in 1862, followed by a brick factory in 1904 and a machinery factory in 1924. Agriculture declined throughout the 20th century and in 2005 both the manufacturing and the services sector each represented about 48% of all jobs. The population grew as industry grew in Roggwil and in 1870 the Rotbrüsteliquartier was built to provide housing for factory workers. Most factories have developed in the large Brunnmatt industrial district. The growth of the municipality required an expansion of the infrastructure. A secondary school opened in 1962, a town hall in 1965, a retirement home in 1985 and in 1987 a small municipal power plant.
Geography
Roggwil has an area of . Of this area, or 45.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 28.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 25.8% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 11.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.7% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, 26.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 29.8% is used for growing crops and 14.9% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
It consists of the village of Roggwil, the hamlet of Kalteherberge and scattered farm houses.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Aarwangen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Oberaargau.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a wreath of Linden branches Vert frettee with three Rye Ears Or. The ears of rye () makes this an example of canting arms.
Demographics
Roggwil has a population () of . , 12.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 6%. Migration accounted for 9%, while births and deaths accounted for -2.6%.
Most of the population () speaks German (3,317 or 92.1%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (72 or 2.0%) and Albanian is the third (46 or 1.3%). There are 10 people who speak French.