Hochwald, Switzerland

Primary school

Hochwald, pronounced in the region known colloquially as " planing " (or " Houbel ") is a municipality in the Amtei Dornach - Thierstein or in Dornach district of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

Geography

Hochwald is located at 620 m above sea level. M., 12 km south-southeast of the city of Basel (air line). This former farm extends in a hollow on the plateau of Gempenplateaus in the Tabular Jura, in the Black Country boys.

The area of ​​8.3 km ² large municipality area includes a portion of the northern Jura. The area occupied by the plateau of Dorneckberges. Along a south-southwest trending from NNE tectonic fault line was formed around 500 m wide shell of high forest, which divided the board of Gempenplateaus in a higher eastern and lower western part. On the whole municipal area any overground watercourses are encountered. Rainwater seeps immediately in the karstic underground and only occurs at the layer boundaries of the slopes of Dorneckbergs light again. Although from the trough, a well pronounced dry valley to the west towards Duggingen that is not reactivated even with persistent heavy rainfall.

To the west of the trough of high forest closes at the ridge of the Uf Hollen ( 699 m above sea level. M. ), in the north of Oak Mountain (700 m above sea level. M. ). Also the valley of Tüfleten still belongs to high forest. To the southwest, the area extends to the Falkenflue ( 624 m above sea level. M. ), which drops steeply against the Birstal out. In the east, the municipality base ( ü. M. with 729 m the highest peak of high forest ) extends to the most wooded back of Chälen, Matt Long and Nättenberg (704 m above sea level. M. ). Both in the West and in the East the boundary runs mostly on the step edge before the steep drop to the low-lying areas. Facing south, the trough is separated by the ridge of bricks from Stoke Valley. From the municipality surface 1997 8 % were settlements, 45 % of forest and woody plants and 47% to agriculture.

At Hochwald include former hamlet Chilchenrain (650 m above sea level. M. ) east of the village then, the residential district Nättenberg (704 m above sea level. M. ) on the ridge east of the village, the farm estate Herrenmatt (615 m above sea level. M. ) on the western edge of the plateau as well as some individual farms. Neighboring communities of high forest are Dornach, Gempen, Buren and Seewen in the canton of Solothurn and Duggingen in the canton of Basel-Landschaft.

Population

With 1293 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) High Forest is one of the medium-sized municipalities in the canton of Solothurn. Of the residents 97.6 % are German, 0.5 % Italian-speaking and 0.5 % speak French (as of 2000). The population of high forest amounted in 1850 to 624 residents in 1900 to 582 inhabitants. During the 20th century, the population increased to 1941 due to strong migration further decreased to 448 people. After a period of stagnation, a striking increase in population was recorded in 25 years since 1970 ( 507 inhabitants) associated with a doubling of the population.

Economy

Hochwald was until the second half of the 20th century, mainly coined by farming village. In the 19th century a Seidenwinderei, a wood turning and two brick factories began operations. Even today, the agriculture, the growing of fruit ( mostly cherry trees ) as well as animal husbandry and dairying have an important place in the economic structure of the population. Hochwald is also known for the production of Butt must. More jobs are in small local manufacturing and services available, including companies in the construction industry, the computer science and in a nursery. In recent decades, the village has developed into a residential community. Many workers are therefore commuters who work mainly in the Basel region.

From the late 1970s until the early 1980s, the German operation sculptor and bronze sculptor Raymond Boll, a son of Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll, in Hochwald school of sculpture. It was attended among others by the visual artist Alex Zwalen; and the sculptors Tobias Mattern was trained from 1979 to 1981 stone sculpture. Raimund Böll in 1982 died at the age of 35 years early. Early 1998 showed the local museum Trotte in nearby Arlesheim an exhibition of his works, which was then to be seen in Art Forum in Bonn.

Traffic

The community is located off the major thoroughfares on the road from Gempen to Seewen. The nearest links to the high-performance street H18 (Basel - Delémont ) is located approximately 6 km from the town center. Through a well-developed Postbus course which serves the route from Dornach to Hochwald and Monday to Saturday to Seewen, Buren and Liestal, the village is sufficiently connected to the public transport network.

History

The first written mention of the village was carried out in 1225 under the name Honwalt who walked with time to high forest. For the naming of the altitude of the settlement was instrumental. In the Middle Ages Hochwald belonged to the estate of the bishopric of Basel, which maintained a Dinghof here; it was part of the rule Birseck. Also the monastery Schoental possessed different goods in the municipal area. As part of the Swabian War Hochwald was drawn by imperial troops severely affected.

In 1509 Hochwald came by pledging to Solothurn and the Bailiwick Thierstein and the district court Dornach has been assigned. The villagers took during the Reformation to the new faith. After Solothurn 1530 had also purchased the church record, but it reintroduced the Catholic worship. After the collapse of the Ancien Régime (1798 ) High Forest was during the Helvetic Republic to Dornach district and from 1803 to Dorneck.

On April 10, 1973 crashed after a failed landing at the airport Basel -Mulhouse Vickers Vanguard of Invicta International Airways near the hamlet of Mr. Matt in the woods (→ Invicta International Airways Flight 435). In memory of this crash, a memorial was erected near the crash site.

Attractions

The Church of Saint Gallus, originally dating back to a medieval church, and its current form as part of the new building in 1821. In the old town and some characteristic farmhouses from the 17th to 19th centuries have been preserved.

In the area of high forest are numerous Jura rock walls with many climbing routes and boulder problems of varying difficulty.

Coat of arms

Blazon

The crest alludes to the former belonging to the Bishopric of Basel.