Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...
Grand Est
Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
in northeastern
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, historically and culturally part of
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
.
Geography
The village is located on a mountain terrace on the west slope of the Champ du Feu in the . It is dominated by the ruins of the
Château de la Roche
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...
towering above it.
Toponymy
*1434: ''Belfus''
*1534: ''Belfuss''
*1578: ''Belfos''
*1584: ''Belfuß''
*1782: ''Belfus''
*1793: ''Bellefosse''
*1915-1918: ''Schöngrund''
Originating from the Celtic words ''bill'' (small) and ''fois'' (place).
History
Bellefosse is part of the old
Ban de la Roche
Le Ban de la Roche () is the name of an ancient fief, seigneurie, later a county. It is situated in Alsace, France, Bas-Rhin (département), Département du Bas-Rhin. This small region is referred by its old Ancien régime name because of its stron ...
fief. The village's name was formalized as ''Belfus'' in 1434. It was composed of 25 houses in 1578, under the name of ''belfos'' then.
On 1 April 1974, it fused with Waldersbach and Belmont to form the commune of Ban-de-Roche, in reference to the historical fief,
Fouday
Fouday (; ; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
At the start of 1975 Fouday was merged with the neighboring settlements of Waldersbach, Belmont and Bellefosse: the resulting aggregation was calle ...
was added to the commune in 1975. On 1 January 1992, the commune of Bellefosse was reestablished.
Coat of arms
The heraldics of Bellefosse are blazoned:
"Azure with one golden chevron followed by three silver cramps set in pale."