Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Castrejón de la Peña

What to see and do in Castrejón de la Peña (Montaña Palentina, Palencia): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 5 Monuments · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Castrejón de la Peña

Towns near Castrejón de la Peña

Spain › Castile and León › Palencia › Montaña Palentina › Castrejón de la Peña

What to see and do in Castrejón de la Peña

Castrejón de la Peña
Village
Castrejón de la Peña is a municipality of about 330 inhabitants in the Montaña Palentina, at 1,120 metres at the foot of the sierra del Brezo, next to the Tosande yew grove, already within the Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre nature park. Until 1916 it was simply called Castrejón. Its economy revolved around anthracite mining, begun in 1900 and booming around 1950, with the Pedrito and Pedrito II pits; a deadly flood closed underground mining in 1996, though the coal washery next to the La Robla railway station remains. It preserves the church of Santa Águeda, in transition between Gothic and Renaissance styles, and that of Traspeña, with the twelve apostles and a Pantocrator on its doorway; there is also a Museo Apícola.
Church of Santa Águeda de Castrejón
Monument
A parish church built in Romanesque forms between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with a Renaissance-flavoured façade added later and an altarpiece attributed to a follower of the Valladolid sculptor Esteban Jordán.
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Pisón
Monument
The church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, in Pisón de Castrejón, is a Romanesque church in ashlar stone, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) on 11 February 1993. Its portal, which projects from the wall, is formed by four columns supporting pointed archivolts decorated in honeycomb pattern, above which runs a string course with the twelve apostles and the Pantocrator at the centre; the porch that shelters it rests on octagonal columns with carved capitals. The outer apse displays corbels with plant and animal motifs, and inside a Gothic relief of the Mass of Saint Gregory is preserved. At the foot of the church, above the gable, rises a three-tier bell-wall, each tier with a double bell arcade, topped with a Baroque finial of balls.
Church of la Transfiguración de Traspeña
Monument
A thirteenth-century church in Traspeña de la Peña, beside which a boundary cross of Roman origin is preserved; the two elements sum up the long settlement of this valley at the foot of the Sierra del Brezo.
Hermitage of la Virgen de la Loma de Recueva
Monument
A twelfth-century hermitage in Recueva de la Peña, which shares the village with the church of San Pedro ad Vincula; both are examples of the scattering of Romanesque churches that dot the hamlets of the municipality.
Castle and necropolis of La Peñilla
Monument
At the spot known as La Peñilla there remain the ruins of a fortress and a medieval necropolis cut into the rock, testimony to the military control of the passes between the Sierra del Brezo and the valley of the river Boedo.
Roast churra suckling lamb
Food and drink
Churra-breed milk-fed lamb, covered by the Lechazo de Castilla y León geographical indication, is roasted in a wood-fired oven and in an earthenware casserole; it is the great dish of the festivals of the mountain villages.