Oberösch

Oberösch 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. Oberösch is first mentioned in 886 as Osse. It is mentioned again in 1310 as Oeschge superioris. The municipality was originally part of the village of Ösch, but eventually the two halves of the village became independent of each other. In 1423, Burgdorf acquired one half of the low court of Oberösch from Verena von Rohrmoos. Later, in the 16th century, Burgdorf bought the other half of the court from Thorberg Chapterhouse. They then combined the two halves and merged the court of Oberösch with the court of Niederösch. Oberösch shared pastures with Ersigen and Rudswil (now part of Ersigen). In 1467, Burgdorf granted the village the right to harvest timber in the Reiteneggwald. In 1525 this was expanded to include the Kriegholz and Hinterholz forests. Throughout its history it has belonged to the parish of Kirchberg. Agriculture has always dominated the local economy and in 2005 93% of the jobs in the municipality were in agriculture. However, many residents commute to jobs in neighboring towns. Oberösch and Niederösch form a single school district. The school house is located in Niederösch. Oberösch is located along the Ösch River north of Burgdorf. Oberösch had an area of . Of this area, or 59.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 34.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.1% is settled (buildings or roads). Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 48.4% is used for growing crops and 9.8% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Burgdorf, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.