Saint-Cierges

Saint-Cierges is a former municipality in the district of Gros-de-Vaud in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Its name refers to Saint Cyriacus, who is the town's patron saint. The municipalities of Chapelle-sur-Moudon, Correvon, Denezy, Martherenges, Neyruz-sur-Moudon, Peyres-Possens, Saint-Cierges, Thierrens and Chanéaz merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Montanaire. Saint-Cierges is first mentioned around 1145-54 as de sancto Sergio. In 1166 it was mentioned as de sancto Ciriaco. Saint-Cierges had an area, , of . Of this area, or 61.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 4.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.3% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 44.9% is used for growing crops and 14.9% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. The former municipality was part of the Moudon District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Saint-Cierges became part of the new district of Gros-de-Vaud. The former municipality is located on a plateau in the Jorat between the Broye and Mentue rivers. It consists of the village of Saint-Cierges and the hamlets of Corrençon, Pré-de-Place and Solitude. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a semi of Saint Cyriaque proper clad Argent, haloed Or, holding in dexter a Palm Branch Vert, in sinister an imaginary reptile of the same. Saint-Cierges had a population () of 472. , 5.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 11.4%. It has changed at a rate of 9% due to migration and at a rate of 3.1% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks French (377 or 91.7%), with German being second most common (18 or 4.4%) and English being third (6 or 1.5%). There are 3 people who speak Italian.