Niederösch

Niederösch is a former municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2016, the former municipalities of Oberösch and Niederösch merged into Ersigen. Niederösch is first mentioned in 886 as Osse and is mentioned in 1310 as villa Öschge inferioris. The municipality was originally part of the village of Ösch, but eventually the two halves of the village became independent of each other. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a late-Bronze Age grave in Bühlen. In 886 the Abbey of St. Gall owned property in both Niederösch and Oberösch. In 994, this land was given to Selz Abbey in Alsace. During the 13th and 14th centuries the Kyburg counts also owned land in the village, which they gave as a fief to their vassals. In 1320, Albrecht of Thorberg, a Kyburg vassal, sold land in Niederösch, but retained the local forest and the low court. Later, Albrecht sold the forest and court to the Lords of Rohrmoos. In 1423 Verena of Rohrmoos sold the lower court and the forest to Burgdorf. The city merged the courts of Niederösch, Oberösch, Rumendingen and Bickigen and placed them under the bailiwick of Grasswil. Niederösch has always been a part of the parish of Kirchberg. In 1803 it became part of the district of Burgdorf. Niederösch has an area of . Of this area, or 68.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 26.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.0% is settled (buildings or roads). Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.7%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 54.6% is used for growing crops and 12.7% is pastures. Niederösch consists of the Straßendorf (a village that lies almost entirely along a single road) of Ober- (Upper Village) and Unterdorf (Lower Village) on the Ösch river and the farm Rychebrunne. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Burgdorf, the municipality's former district, was dissolved.