Sonceboz-Sombeval

Sonceboz-Sombeval is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

[3] Its location at the foot of the historic Pierre Pertuis pass (in operation since the Roman era) made the villages an important stopping point and transportation hub.

The Petinesca Roman road ran to the east of Sonceboz before it crossed the Jura mountains.

In 999 Moutier-Grandval Abbey gave the local farms and the Summavallis chapel to the Prince-Bishop of Basel.

After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Sonceboz-Sombeval was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.

Decades after the villagers accepted the new Reformed faith, in 1590 they became part of the Corgémont parish.

[3] Throughout the Early Modern period Sonceboz remained a small hamlet with only a few houses dependent on the larger village of Sombeval.

However, in the early 18th century Sonceboz became an important staging post for trade over the pass.

Beginning in 1849 the growth of the watch parts industry brought workers to the villages and forcing them to expand.

In 1874 the Biel-Les Convers and Sonceboz-Tavannes railway lines opened and forever changed the character of the village.

In 1936 the watch parts manufacturer Société industrielle de Sonceboz built a factory in the village.

In 1978, the flooring manufacturer Bienna SA built a factory in the municipality, which strengthened the industrial sector.

[5] The municipality is located in the Saint-Imier valley at the foot of the historic Pierre Pertuis pass.

On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.

[6] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent three Fir Trees Vert trunked Gules issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second and in chief two Mullets of Five of the third.

In the tertiary sector; 202 or 48.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 32 or 7.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 102 or 24.3% were in the information industry, 17 or 4.1% were in education and 18 or 4.3% were in health care.

[10] According to the 2000 census[update], 547 or 32.8% were Roman Catholic, while 677 or 40.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Sonceboz-Sombeval
Aerial view (1950)