Noël-Cerneux

Noël- Cerneux is a commune in the French department Doubs in the Franche -Comté.

Geography

Noël- Cerneux is located on 934 m, 7 km north-east of Morteau and about 12 km west of the town of La Chaux -de-Fonds (air line). The village is located in the Jura, in the extreme southwest of the plateaus of Maîche, at the northern foot of the Bois de Russey north of Doubstals.

The area of ​​6.36 km ² municipal area includes a portion of the French Jura. The main part of the area is occupied by the plateau of Maîche, which is on average 930 m. It is mainly composed of meadow and pasture land, but also shows some small areas of forest. In a swampy lowland in the north of the municipal area there is a small, artificially dammed bog lake, which is drained by the Ruisseau des Seignes. However, this seeps after a short running distance in a karstic underground. To the south of the municipality of soil ranges on the height of the Bois de Russey. Here the highest elevation of Noël- Cerneux is achieved with 1082 m. The ridge forms in geological- tectonic respects an anticlinal folds of the Jura and is oriented southwest-northeast direction according to the strike of the mountains in this region.

Neighboring communities of Noël- Cerneux are Le Bizot in the north, La Chenalotte in the east, Villers -le- Lac and Les Fins in the south and Le Bélieu in the West.

History

In the Middle Ages Noël- Cerneux belonged to the rule Réaumont, which was under the suzerainty of the Lords of Montfaucon, from the 15th century to that of the Counts of Montbéliard. Together with the Franche -Comté reached the village with the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678 to France.

On 1 January 2009 there was a change in the membership of the district municipality. So far, belonging to the district Montbeliard, all municipalities in the canton came to the district Pontarlier.

Attractions

The village church of Saint- Claude, originally dating back to the early 16th century, was extensively rebuilt in 1807.

Population

With 378 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) Noël- Cerneux is one of the small communities of the department of Doubs. After the population had decreased significantly in the first half of the 20th century (1896 278 persons were still counted ), a continuous population growth was recorded since the early 1970s again.

Economy and infrastructure

Noël- Cerneux was until well into the 20th century a predominantly by agriculture ( livestock and dairy farming ) embossed village. In addition, there are now several companies of small and medium industries, including a polishing factory. Meanwhile, the village has also changed into a residential community. Many workers are therefore commuters who engage in the surrounding larger towns of their work.

The village has good transport links. It lies on the main road D437 which leads from Montbéliard to Morteau.