Each individual hamlet has its own charm. If you come to Bellwald by car, you drive through all the hamlets to the village of Bellwald.
The Hamlets
BELLWALD
Bodmen
The hamlet of Bodmen, formerly divided into Bodmen and auf der Halte, is thought to have been an independent community until 1821. The village or community still owns forest on the "Gibelegge".
In 1896, eight buildings were destroyed by fire between upper and lower Bodme, including three houses.
A chapel was built there for the crowned Mother of God. It dates from the 17th century. The baroque altar from 1684 has two storeys. The choir has a seven-sided barrel vault, the nave a wooden coffered vault.
Eggen
In 1600, the hamlet of Eggen, today the smallest of all, was more important than Ried or Fürgangen. Today there are still four old houses there: "ds Hüeberhüs" from the 16th century, the large semi-detached house at the top of the village, built in 1647 and finished in 1723, the house next to the chapel, dating from 1756 and an old house from the 16th century, which was used as a barn for a long time and made habitable again in 1976. To the west, there was another house as the farmstead indicates. The old "Restihüs" was demolished in 1895. It stood below the large semi-detached house. You can still see the cellar walls of a house that disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, to the west of the house next to the chapel in the direction of the Fieschertal. After World War II, the old bakehouse was also demolished.
Fürgangen
Fürgangen, first mentioned in 1293 as "Wrgangen" or "Wurgangen", was once under the rule of the Counts of Blandrate. Paul Bogner von Niederernen bought these governing rights in 1444 and called himself "Judge of Fürgangen". After 1595 this jurisdiction is said to have passed to the Schiner family. It is not known when the Fürgangen "Freigericht" amalgamated with the "Zendengericht" of Goms. The hamlet of Fürgangen, which belonged to the Ernen parish until 1963, was largely destroyed by fire on 12 July 1887. 18 buildings fell victim to the fire, including two houses, and one human life was lost. The following year, the inn, barn and stable burned down in Fürgangen.
During the conflagration in Fürgangen in 1887, a large "fire" in the throats of the fire brigade team was quenched according to the municipal bill with "11 litres of white wine at 80 cents a litre; 11 litres at 1 Franc and 2 1/2 litres of brandy at 2 Francs per litre and 3 litres of red wine at 1 Franc", plus bread at 10 Francs to assuage their hunger. Fire has always been an enemy to be feared in the villages with their wooden houses built close together. Therefore, according to tradition, St. Agatha's Day (5 February) is still celebrated as a holiday, as our forebears decided in a community meeting on 7 March 1909.
Ried
Many new houses have been built in recent years in the hamlet of Ried, almost stifling the old village on the ridge. This hamlet experienced its heyday between 1630 and 1750, when most of the houses were built there. In the upper part of the settlement on a rocky outcrop stands the chapel in honour of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Unfortunately, this extraordinary settlement image has suffered greatly in recent decades due to the new buildings in front of it.