Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in Castrocontrigo

What to see and do in Castrocontrigo (La Cabrera, León): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Castrocontrigo

Church of San Salvador de Torneros de la Valdería 5.7 km

Towns near Castrocontrigo

Spain › Castile and León › León › La Cabrera › Castrocontrigo

What to see and do in Castrocontrigo

Castrocontrigo
Village
Castrocontrigo is a municipality of about 620 inhabitants on the banks of the río Eria, in the comarca of La Valdería, which gives access to La Cabrera and lies 80 km south of León. Besides the eponymous locality, it groups the settlements of Morla de la Valdería, Nogarejas, Pinilla de la Valdería, Pobladura de Yuso and Torneros de la Valdería. It is surrounded by resin pine forests that supplied a turpentine factory at Nogarejas, and the 2012 fire there destroyed more than 11,000 hectares of woodland. It celebrates Corpus Christi and, as its patronal festivities, the first weekend of August, in honour of El Salvador (the Saviour), whose feast falls on 6 August.
Church of Santa Eulalia de Morla de la Valdería
Monument
A seventeenth-century church of Latin cross plan and medium size that presides over Morla, the last village of the Valdería before entering La Cabrera by the road out of Castrocontrigo.
Church of San Salvador de Torneros de la Valdería
Monument
The parish church of Torneros de la Valdería, a settlement on the right bank of the river Eria; nineteenth-century ecclesiastical registers record it as a first-promotion benefice of free appointment.
First resin factory of Nogarejas
Historical milestone
The first resin factory in Nogarejas was built in 1891 and belonged to the Duke of Peñaranda; a second one was built in 1926, and Nogarejas came to have two resin factories operating at the same time, a case held to be unique in Spain.
Resin Cooperative of Nogarejas
Historical milestone
Domingo García de Luis, an emigrant returned from the Americas with a small fortune, bought the woodlands together with the residents for the local council and in the twenties founded a resin works of their own that brought wealth to the village until it closed in 1990.
Resin pine forests of Castrocontrigo
Nature
Extensive stands of Pinus pinaster cover the municipal districts of Castrocontrigo, Nogarejas, Morla, Torneros, Pinilla and Pobladura, one of the largest resin pine woods in the province of León and its economic engine for a century.
Eria river
Nature
The Eria rises in the mountains of El Teleno, in the León region of La Cabrera, and runs for 101.54 kilometres through the provinces of León and Zamora before flowing into the Órbigo river as it passes Manganeses de la Polvorosa, draining a basin of 657 km²; two of its stretches, the one starting at its source and another, shorter one near the Montes Aquilanos, are included in the Natura 2000 network. It has been the backbone of the Valdería region, a source of wealth as far back as Roman times and the driving force behind mills and irrigation, and it flows down, hemmed in, from the sierra de la Cabrera towards the páramo, bathing the municipality of Castrocontrigo, which provides access to La Cabrera and, together with its capital, brings together the settlements of Morla, Nogarejas, Pinilla, Pobladura de Yuso and Torneros de la Valdería.
The resin-tapper's trade in the mountains of la Valdería
Curiosity
For generations the residents of Nogarejas and Castrocontrigo lived by tapping pine: incisions in the trunk, pots collecting the resin and hauling it to the factory, a job wiped out with the closure of the last resin works in 1991.
Festivities of el Salvador de Castrocontrigo
Activity
Castrocontrigo celebrates its patron, El Salvador, on 6 August, and moves the main festivities to the first weekend of the month; Corpus Christi completes the traditional festive calendar of this town on the Eria.
Viewpoint of el Eria de Castrocontrigo
Activity
A panoramic balcony installed above the Eria valley, with a swing suspended at the edge of the cliff from which the resin pine woods and the houses of Castrocontrigo stretched out beside the riverbed can be taken in.