Bärschwil

Geschichte

Bärschwil is a village and municipality in the district of Thierstein in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.HistoryBärschwil is first mentioned in 1194 as Bermeswile.From the 19th century until 1957, Bärschwil was a source of gypsum. Initially, the gypsum was extracted on the surface but, subsequently, using underground mines accessed via adits. Until 1910, the mine was situated at Gupf and, when that was exhausted, a new mine was opened at Kirchacker.In 1875, the Jura railway line was opened at the northern edge of Bärschwil municipality, and a station opened. Between 1894 and 1952, the gypsum mines were linked to the station by the Bärschwil gypsum railway, a narrow gauge line which used a combination of horse haulage and gravity.GeographyBärschwil has an area, of 11.22km2. Of this area, 4.64km2 or 41.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.93km2 or 52.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.56km2 or 5.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02km2 or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and 0.03km2 or 0.3% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, 49.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.1% is used for growing crops and 31.7% is pastures, while 2.3% is used for orchards or vine crops and 2.2% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.