Ballens
Bale seen from the north
Bale is a municipality in the district of Morges in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
Geography
Bale is at 707 m above sea level. M., 11 km north-west of the district capital Morges ( straight line ). The scattered village extends on a knoll on the high plateau, which lies at the foot of the Jura, in the Vaud Mittelland.
The area of 8.5 km ² large municipality area comprises a gently undulating section in the western border zone of the Central Plateau. The communal land extends from the Jura foothills eastward over the Talniederung the Veyron and the terrain back of the bale to the dry valley to the east of Grand Marais. This up to 300 m wide, flat valley was once a meltwater channel at the edge of the glacial Rhone Glacier. In the south, the area extends into the forest of Le Sépey, in the 729 m above sea level. M. the highest elevation of the bale is reached. On the south-east also includes a part of the forest of Les Bougeries (up to 704 m above sea level. M. ) to bale. From the municipality surface 1997 accounted for 5% on settlements, 30 % of forest and shrubs, 64% to agriculture and slightly less than 1% was unproductive land.
To bale includes the hamlet Froideville ( 685 m above sea level. M. ) on the western edge of the valley of Grand Marais, as well as some individual farms. The neighboring communities of bale are in the southwest Bière, in the west Berolle, in the north Mollens, in the east and in the south yen Apple.
Population
With 469 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) bale is one of the small communities of the Canton of Vaud. Of the 88.0% inhabitants are French-speaking, German-speaking 5.6 % and 5.0 % portugiesischsprachig (as of 2000). The population of bale amounted in 1850 to 422 residents in 1900 to 361 inhabitants. Since then, she commutes between 350 and 400 inhabitants.
Economy
Bale was until the mid-20th century, a predominantly coined by agriculture village. Still plays agriculture as a branch of the population an important role. It focuses on agriculture and animal husbandry respectively dairy industry. Thanks to the excellent access some construction companies, a blacksmith shop and a bookbinding have settled in the bale. More jobs are in the service sector.
Traffic
The community is easily accessible via. It lies on the main road that leads from Morges to Bière. On 1 July 1895, the narrow gauge railway Bière -Apples- Morges was taken with a station in bale in operation.
History
When bale a hill grave of the Hallstatt period was found. The first mention was made in 1139 under the name Barlens 1453 appeared the spelling Balen. Bale was in the Middle Ages the center of a small rule, which was subordinate to the monastery Romainmôtier and the Lords of Aubonne. Since the conquest of Vaud by Bern in 1536 bale shared the fortunes of Aubonne and came in 1701 to the bailiwick Aubonne. After the collapse of the ancien régime, the village belonged from 1798 to 1803 during the Helvetic Republic to the canton of Geneva, who came up then with the enactment of the Act of Mediation in the canton of Vaud. 1798 bale was initially assigned to the district of Morges, 1803 it came to the district Aubonne.
Attractions
The church of Saint -Maurice was already mentioned in 1139. The building underwent multiple transformations, the bell tower dates from 1715. Characteristic in the ancient village farmhouses dating from the 16th to 19th centuries have been preserved.