[3] During the High Middle Ages there were wooden castles at Ballmoos, Sandbühl, Heugraben and Aspitanne, which were probably fiefs of the court at Oltigen.

Bern controlled the low courts at Säriswil and Frieswil, but not the private Herrschafts of Illiswil and Dettigen.

In 1748, they sold the court and rights over the village to Bern, but retained ownership of the manor house or Schlössli.

In 1719, Hieronymus von Erlach acquired the shares from the heirs of Johann Rudolf Bucher and thereby became the only owner of Illiswil.

During the 1960s, the character of the village changed with the large Kappelenring housing development which added about 1,200 apartments.

Kappelenring was followed by the Hintere and Vordere Aumatt, Bennenboden, Reitenrain, Wyhalen and Schlossmatte housing projects, which turned Hinterkapplen into a major bedroom community for Bern.

It stretches over the Frienisberg to a series of small terraces on the right bank of Lake Wohlen.

It consists of around two dozen villages and hamlets of including; Hinterkappelen, Uettligen, Wohlen, Möriswil, Säriswil, Illiswil, Murzelen and Innerberg.

In the summer, residents of Wohlen can often be seen relaxing and swimming in the lake, floating around on dinghies and barbecuing.

[8] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per chevron embowed Azure a Sun and Moon Or and of the second a letter W of the first.

[12] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (8,250 or 92.2%) as their first language, French is the second most common (164 or 1.8%) and Italian is the third (85 or 0.9%).

The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][15] The Hofenmühle is listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The hamlets of Hofen, Illiswil, Möriswil and Oberdettigen are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[16] The Hofenmühle is an 18th-century water mill, which is located south of the main settlement, in the small Hofen hamlet.

The other parties scored as follows: GP 16.1%, glp 11.4%, FDP 11.2%, BDP 7.9%, EVP 2.1% and CVP 2.0%.

In the tertiary sector; 166 or 22.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 28 or 3.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 58 or 7.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 16 or 2.1% were in the information industry, 10 or 1.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 75 or 10.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 122 or 16.3% were in education and 138 or 18.4% were in health care.

[12] From the 2000 census[update], 1,363 or 15.2% were Roman Catholic, while 5,823 or 65.0% 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.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

[20] During the 2009-10 school year, there were a total of 956 students attending classes in Wohlen bei Bern.