Logbook · 3 places

What to see and do in Santa María de la Isla

What to see and do in Santa María de la Isla (La Bañeza, León): 3 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones

Towns near Santa María de la Isla

Spain › Castile and León › León › La Bañeza › Santa María de la Isla

What to see and do in Santa María de la Isla

Santa María de la Isla
Village
Santa María de la Isla is a municipality of about 430 inhabitants that stretches out in a line along the río Tuerto, in its vega, before this flows into the Órbigo, at 787 metres and 44 km from León. It arose from the repopulation driven by the kings of León, above all Alfonso V, with people who came from the mountains of Bierzo, who were granted fueros to organise their own local council in exchange for tribute to the king; thus San Martín arose first, around 1095, and then La Isla. Its two parishes merged when the 16th-century plague emptied San Martín, today the upper quarter, next to the river. The lower quarter, the largest in the village, holds the Plaza Mayor with its fir trees, where the festivals are held, and the parish church, of stone and brick, is the most notable monumental building.
Tuerto floodplain in La Isla
Nature
The Tuerto crosses the municipality of Santa María de la Isla from north to south shortly before flowing into the Órbigo, leaving very flat land at about 787 metres, threaded with irrigation channels; the village stretches out in three quarters parallel to the river. The town is part of the Vega del Tuerto, a traditional region that runs along this river from San Justo de la Vega to near La Bañeza, where the Tuerto joins the Duerna before flowing into the Órbigo, and which has a total of about 6,000 inhabitants spread across several municipalities of the province of León.
Disappearance of San Martín due to the plague
Historical milestone
The parish of San Martín, documented since 1095, was depopulated by the plague and its parishioners ended up passing to that of La Isla. At the end of the seventeenth century a price crisis left the village reduced to eighteen households.