Logbook · 2 places

What to see and do in Yecla de Yeltes

What to see and do in Yecla de Yeltes (Vitigudino, Salamanca): 2 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Nature

How far each place is from the centre of Yecla de Yeltes

Hillfort of Yecla la Vieja 5.5 km

Towns near Yecla de Yeltes

Spain › Castile and León › Salamanca › Vitigudino › Yecla de Yeltes

What to see and do in Yecla de Yeltes

Yecla de Yeltes
Village
Yecla de Yeltes, in the Salamanca comarca of Vitigudino, has about 223 inhabitants divided between the village itself and the locality of Gema. One kilometer to the south lies the Vettonian hillfort of Yecla la Vieja, inhabited since the Iron Age with later Roman and Visigothic presence; it is one of the best-preserved in the Meseta, with the entire perimeter of its wall still standing, the field of driven stones and three access gates. Within the enclosure stands the hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Castillo. The present-day locality arose in the Middle Ages, during the repopulation by the kings of León, who handed over its management as a lordship to the archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela, on which it depended until the 15th century, when it passed to the diocese of Salamanca, itself a suffragan of Santiago until 1851.
Hillfort of Yecla la Vieja
Nature
A kilometre from the village, on a promontory to the south beside the Varlaña stream, this Iron Age Vettonian hillfort covers about 5 hectares and retains its wall perimeter, its field of standing stones and three gates intact. Its origin goes back to the 5th century BC, when the Vettones inhabited the district, and it remained inhabited in Roman times and into the early Middle Ages. After it was abandoned, the hermitage of the Virgen del Castillo was built within the enclosure in the time of the Catholic Monarchs, and still stands and is in use. On one of the ashlar blocks a hunting scene was carved, and on the west flank, outside the walls, the field of vertical standing stones may have served as protection against cavalry. It is one of the finest examples of Vettonian architecture.