Aphrodite Roche VD (CH)

Roche VD

Name origin

Rocha (name for the church of that time along with the hospital) --> la Rochy --> Rochiz

First documented mention

1150 AD

Population

1,900

Area

6.45 km²

Canton

Waadt (Vaud)

District

Aigle

Vehicle registration

VD

River

Rotten (French: Rhone, beyond the town boundaries), Lac Léman (beyond the town boundaries)

Club Aphrodite is located in Roche.

Roche is a political municipality in the district of Aigle in the canton of Waadt (French: Vaud). It lies at 390 m above sea level and about 10 km south of Montreux. The village stretches along the eastern edge of the Rhone valley, where the Rhone, which originates in Wallis and is still called Rotten here, flows into the Lac Léman. To the east, the area extends over the very steep, wooded slopes crossed by rocky bands on both sides of the Eau Froide torrent, up to the Tête de Sauquenil (1085 m above sea level; the western section of the Mont d'Arvel) and up to the height of La Sarse (at 1502 m above sea level the highest point of Roche) near the Alp Les Agites.

In Roman times, important trade routes led from Aventicum (Avenches) via Octodurum (Martigny) over the Grand Saint Bernhard to Italy through the area of Roche. Since the Middle Ages, the village with its church and hospital belonged to the canons of the Grand Saint Bernhard. With the conquest of the lordship of Aigle by Bern in 1476, Roche came under the administration of the Gouvernement Aigle. After the collapse of the Ancien régime, the village belonged from 1798 to 1803, during the Helvetic period, to the canton of Léman, which subsequently merged into the canton of Waadt with the enactment of the Mediation Constitution.

Roche was formerly a village predominantly shaped by agriculture. After the discovery of the salt springs at Panex and Bevieux in 1554, construction of a saltworks in Roche began in 1582. During the Bernese period, Roche was an important salt storage site for the products of the salt mines of Aigle and Bex until 1798. During the course of the 19th century, limestone mining began at the site. The quarries above the village on both sides of the Eau Froide are visible from afar. In 1896, a cement works was opened, which most recently belonged to Holderbank Ciments et Bétons. It was the dominant employer in Roche and was closed in 1999. In the industrial zone taken over from the cement works, a new competence centre for modern mechanics, high technology and energy management is planned. Del West Europe SA has since built a state-of-the-art facility here for the production of engine components for almost all racing teams, including F1 and Grand Prix motorcycle engines. In addition, a PET packaging recycling company has settled here.

The residents of Roche are called the "Rotzérans".