La Ferrière is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (Jura Bernois). History Founded in 1590 as les Hautes Montagnes d'Erguël by settlers from Valangin. In 1749 it was known as La Ferriere or Communauté des Montagnes de Saint-Imier. The village was owned by the Prince-Bishop of Basel and was part of the seigniory of Erguel. The municipal charter was created in the early 17th century and confirmed in 1623 and again in 1672. During the Thirty Years War the village was attacked and burned. Originally there was little land and no forests attached to the village. The lack of arable land and the resulting revenue made it very difficult for the village to meet their obligations. In 1767, the Prince-Bishop granted Erguel Castle and the surrounding lands to La Ferrière to hold as a fief. In 1806, the political municipality of La Ferrière inherited the castle and lands and in 1828 sold them to Sonvilier. After the 1797 French invasion the village became part of the parish of Renan in the French Department of Mont-Terrible. The parish was later transferred to the Department of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat in 1815, the region became part of the Canton of Bern, though La Ferrière remained part of the Renan parish until 1861. The village church was consecrated in 1864. During the 19th century the population grew rapidly due to watch and watch parts factories that opened in the village. Throughout the 20th century, the population has slowly declined. Geography La Ferrière has an area of . Of this area, or 62.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 3.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.4%. Out of the forested land, 25.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 8.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.6% is used for growing crops and 41.6% is pastures and 19.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is made up of scattered settlements at an elevation of about in the north-west