Messen

Geschichte

Messen is a municipality in the district of Bucheggberg, in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern merged into the municipality of Messen.HistoryMessen is first mentioned in 1223 as Messon. Balm bei Messen is first mentioned in 1254 as de Balmo. In 1275 it was mentioned as in Balm. Brunnenthal is first mentioned in 1387 as Wernher von Brunnental. In 1396 it was mentioned as Brunental. Oberramsern is first mentioned in 1276 as Rambsern though this comes from a 17th-century copy of the original. In 1318 it was mentioned as Ramserron superiori.GeographyMessen has an area, of 7.08km2. Of this area, 4.46km2 or 63.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.07km2 or 29.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.49km2 or 6.9% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03km2 or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.1%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 50.0% is used for growing crops and 10.9% is pastures, while 2.1% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.The municipality is located in the Bucheggberg district, in the hill country south of the Limpach valley. It consists of the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Messen and the hamlets of Eichholz and Niderwol. It now also includes the former independent municipalities of Balm bei Messen, Brunnenthal and Oberramsern.