Village
Municipality of the comarca of Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel, in the province of Albacete, the last hamlet to break away from the alfoz, the jurisdictional district, of Alcaraz, as late as the end of the seventeenth century, and whose name is attributed to the crossbowmen of Alfonso VIII's army who settled beside the spring of the Pozo Viejo. Its square was among the first in Spain to be named Plaza de la Constitución, in 1837, and is presided over by the municipal building of 1808; it also preserves the church of San Lorenzo Mártir, begun between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the late Gothic chapel of Villalgordo, with a Visigothic font.
Monument
A church begun between the 14th and 15th centuries and remodelled in the 16th, with a single nave under star-ribbed vaults and a bell tower of 1770. It suffered serious damage during the Civil War.
Monument
One of the first squares in the province of Albacete to adopt this name, in 1837. It is presided over by the 1808 municipal building, with an arcade of a double central arch connecting to the church and a running balcony topped by the clock tower.
Monument
A late Gothic hermitage with three pointed arches and a rib vault, whose founding is traditionally attributed to Alfonso VIII after the conquest of Alcaraz. It preserves a Visigothic baptismal font and the remains of a Baroque altarpiece.
Nature
Wetlands of the municipality, including the lagoons of Villaverde and El Arquillo, alongside extensive juniper woodlands and seasonally flooded plains where great bustards breed. The Villaverde lagoon is fed by the springs known as the eyes of Villaverde, and the water from the Arquillo lagoon, owing to its good mineral qualities, is bottled by the Murcian company El Pozo. Among the flooded plains of the area are those of El Conchel, Peribáñez, Guardaaperos, Las Encebras, El Espino and La Pastora. The juniper woodlands, not long ago at risk of disappearing, are home to the great bustard, the largest flying bird in the world.
Nature
Saline and lagoon sites in the municipality of El Ballestero (Sierra de Alcaraz and Campo de Montiel, Albacete), included within the Parque Natural de las Lagunas de Ruidera. The Laguna Blanca, at about 870 metres of altitude, receives the waters of the Pinilla river and at times behaves like a pool or spring-fed lagoon, giving off surging waters in times of extraordinary rainfall; it can dry up during periods of drought.
Activity
The Pascua de Mayo is the first festival of the year in El Ballestero, in the region of the Sierra de Alcaraz and Campo de Montiel, and is held on Pentecost Sunday, forty days after Easter Sunday. On that Sunday the patroness, the Virgen de la Encarnación, is carried in pilgrimage to the hermitage of Villalgordo, built by Alfonso VIII after the reconquest of the lands of Alcaraz, in late Gothic style, with three pointed arches, a transept with a simple vault, the remains of a Baroque altarpiece and Visigothic elements such as capitals and a baptismal font. Once there, a meal of lamb is held, open to the whole village.
Activity
Old tradition, one of the most deeply rooted in the province, in which a person covered in a white tunic and hood walks through the village in silence, house by house, collecting donations for the church. It is held every 28 December, and those who take part usually do so as a vow or in thanks to the Virgin.
Curiosity
A boundary dispute with El Bonillo was settled, according to tradition, by a jota dancing contest held in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. El Ballestero won and took away the bell known as La Gambeta from San Miguel de Susaña.
Curiosity
As recorded by Alfonso X, the place name comes from the crossbowmen of Alfonso VIII's army who, after an attempt to conquer Alcaraz, settled beside the spring of the Pozo Viejo.
Historical milestone
El Ballestero was the last hamlet to break away from the alfoz of Alcaraz, already at the end of the seventeenth century. With it closed a process of emancipations that had begun a century and a half earlier and that left the old city reduced to its own district.