Bonfol
Church of Saint -Laurent in Bonfol
Bonfol is a municipality in the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. The former German name Pumpfel is no longer used today.
Geography
Bonfol is located on 432 m above sea level. M., 9 km north-east of the district municipal seat Porrentruy (air line). The former street village lines extending in the Talniederung the Vendline in the extreme northeast of the Ajoie ( German Elsgau ) on the border with France.
The area of 13.6 km ² large municipality territory comprises the western part of the wide, open and gently undulating countryside of northern Tafeljura Ajoie and Talniederung of the upper course of the Vendline. The highest point in the municipality is only just 483 m above sea level. M. To the east, the municipal area extends in vast forests, including Le Chêtre, Bois Juré and Combe Guerri that. Having a height of 470 m above sea M. form the watershed between the basins of the Rhine and the Rhone. In a small corner of the area extends to the river Largue, a left tributary of the River Ill, which flows to the Rhine. The vast majority of the township is drained, however, towards the Mediterranean from the Vendline to Allaine and so. From the municipality surface 1997 6 % came from settlements, 44 % of forest and shrubs, 48% to agriculture and about 2% was unproductive land.
To Bonfol include several individual farms. Neighboring communities of Bonfol are Beurnevésin, Damphreux and Vendlincourt in the Canton of Jura and Courtavon and Pfetterhouse in France.
Population
With 669 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) Bonfol belongs to the medium-sized municipalities in the canton of Jura. Of the residents, 84.7 % are French, 12.2% German-speaking and Spanish-speaking 1.6% (as of 2000). The population of Bonfol peaked as early as 1900. Since then, a decline of about 50 % was recorded.
Economy
Towards the end of the 19th century Bonfol has changed from an agricultural to an industrial village. Became famous for the agricultural village in the 18th century by the indigenous pottery. The preparation of the caquelons (fireproof earthenware pans) in 1912 replaced by the factory production of industrial ceramics. More jobs are available in the watch industry and in the manufacture of ball bearings. Thanks to the fertile soils in the Ajoie but also has agriculture still a high priority.
Traffic
The community is located off the major thoroughfares in the border region of the northeastern Ajoie, but each has a border crossing with the two French neighboring communities. On July 14, 1901, the standard gauge railway line Porrentruy - Bonfol the Chemins de fer du Jura was opened, which connects the village to public transport.
History
North of the village, a Merovingian cemetery was discovered in 1885, on which, among other things, an iron belt buckle from the 7th century was found. For the first time Bonfol 1136 mentioned as Bunfol. In the following time published a number of other names such as Bonfon, Boufol, Bumpfol, Mumphfol, Boufoul and Benfoul.
Bonfol told the eventful history of the Ajoie who first came to the Prince-Bishopric of Basel in 1271. It was under the 16th and 18th century the Meier office Coeuve. Between 1793 and 1815 Bonfol belonged to France and was initially part of the département du Mont- Terrible, associated from 1800 with the Department of Haut -Rhin. By the decision of the Congress of Vienna, the place came in 1815 to the canton of Bern and on 1 January 1979 at the newly founded Canton Jura.
Attractions
The parish church of Saint -Laurent in the lower part of the village was built in 1783-84. In the woods north of Bonfol is the chapel of Saint- Fromont that after Ascension is the goal of a pilgrimage every Friday, for the Holy Fromond is regarded as the patron of cattle.
In a small valley in the woods south-east of the town are the Étangs de Bonfol, former fish ponds that were 1751-54 dammed at the direction of the Bishop of Basel. Today, these ponds are protected.
Station of the CJ
Eglise Saint -Laurent
Place Louis Chevrolet
Fishing pond
Hazardous waste landfill
Chemical waste dump of the Basel chemical industry
Gained fame Bonfol by its hazardous waste landfill. In it, the Basel Chemical Industry (BCI ), ( formerly Ciba) deposited a consortium including the chemical and pharmaceutical companies Novartis, Roche, Syngenta, BASF and Clariant, 114,000 tons of highly toxic chemical waste from their factories. In minor amounts provided some of the Canton of Bern, the regional trade as well as the Swiss Army from 1961 to 1976 in part from waste. 1981 ran water into the pit, and there was leaching of pollutants. After an occupation by Greenpeace Switzerland and under great public pressure, the Canton of Jura and representatives of the Basel chemical industry ( BCI) have after a long dispute agreed to an agreement on the final remediation of the landfill in 2000. The BCI took over operational responsibility for the remediation. The schedule provides for a complete and permanent remediation of the landfill Bonfol 2015; Start of work was in 2010. Was a 3000 -ton steel structure built over the site in order to avoid leakage of pollutants. The mining / excavation of the pollutants is done by robots, in order to avoid the risk of poisoning of workers. The refurbishment costs amount to about 350 million Swiss francs.
The additional safety measures developed by a local explosion on 7 July 2010 have been implemented according to plan. Therefore, the operation bci - AG and its redevelopment partner has taken up the activities on the premises again on April 11, 2011. For a pilot phase was initially planned to test with inert clay material proper operation of all installations and all processes, the cantonal authorities wanted to pursue these tests accurately. Two months later, on 18 May 2011, the waste excavation was continued.