Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Cea

What to see and do in Cea (Sahagún, León): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities

Towns near Cea

Spain › Castile and León › León › Sahagún › Cea

What to see and do in Cea

Cea
Village
Cea is a town of León of about 373 inhabitants, between the rivers Cea and Valderaduey, whose municipality also brings together the hamlets of Bustillo de Cea, Saelices del Río and San Pedro de Valderaduey. It predominated in the area until the rise of the monastery of Sahagún in the 11th century, and its castle was a stronghold until the definitive union of León and Castile in the 13th century; today only ruins remain of the house where Queen Urraca I of León used to spend the summer. Philip III granted the place the title of county, and later of duchy, for the Duke of Lerma, within a lordship reaching up to twenty-six villages. The town has two churches, that of San Martín, the older one, and the new one of Santa María, built from 1909 with stones from the castle itself. Its stone bridge, with eight arches and 102 metres, still crosses the river.
Castle of Cea
Monument
Cea Castle stands on a hillock overlooking the town of Cea, beside the river of the same name, and dominated the line until the 13th century, when the border between León and Castile stopped running through this valley. The present building was built in the 15th century over an earlier castle, destroyed in the 12th century, which in turn stood on one from the 9th century, and this on a castro. It served as a prison for Navarrese kings and Castilian counts: around 1040 King Ferdinand I of León imprisoned his brother García Sánchez III of Navarre there. In the early 20th century it was used as a quarry for the village's new church, which caused its ruin, today reduced to a small tower and an arch of the wall; works in 2015 prevented its total collapse, and it can now be visited free of charge.
Bridge of Cea
Monument
A stone bridge over the río Cea, southwest of the town centre of Cea (León), a hundred and two metres long with eight segmental arches and buttresses. It was rebuilt in 1602, the work awarded to the Cantabrian master stonemasons Diego de la Cajiga, Juan de Hermosa and Juan de Nates, and for centuries it was essential for communication between León and Madrid, which justified its upkeep even during the economic crisis of the 17th century: in 1638 Pedro Cayón rebuilt four arches that floods had swept away in 1632 and 1633. It is the most notable civil work in the Cea valley and a compulsory crossing on the way to Sahagún; it also gives access to Bustillo.
Church of la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Cea
Monument
The church of the Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Cea, known as the new church, was designed by the architect Julio del Campo and construction began in 1909 next to Cea Castle, using stones from the castle itself among the building materials. It was funded by doña Margarita de Modino, a wealthy resident who died without heirs in 1908 and left her fortune to build it. The building replaced the old church of San Martín as the main parish church, which still stands in the same town centre.
Mount of Riocamba
Nature
A public woodland of the municipality with active timber use, one of the few wooded blocks that break the cereal plain between the rivers Cea and Valderaduey, in a municipal district divided among four small villages.
The Candlemas of Cea
Curiosity
On 2 February the town celebrates Las Candelas, one of the two great dates on the calendar along with the Virgen del Carmen of 16 July, in a municipality that has lost most of its residents in half a century.