Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Santorcaz

What to see and do in Santorcaz (Cuenca del Henares, Madrid): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

When to go to Santorcaz: festival calendar

February: The imprisonment of the Princess of Éboli (febrero de 1580)

How far each place is from the centre of Santorcaz

Castle of Torremocha 500 m
Church of San Torcuato 500 m

Towns near Santorcaz

What to see in Anchuelo 3.5 km · 2 places
What to see in Los Santos de la Humosa 3.7 km · 4 places
What to see in Pozo de Guadalajara 4.6 km · 1 place
What to see in Pioz 4.8 km · 1 place
What to see in Corpa 6 km · 4 places
What to see in Pezuela de las Torres 7.5 km · 5 places
What to see in Villalbilla 7.7 km · 3 places
What to see in Valverde de Alcalá 8.8 km · 3 places

Spain › Community of Madrid › Cuenca del Henares › Santorcaz

What to see and do in Santorcaz

Santorcaz
Village
Santorcaz is a town of the Community of Madrid, near the border with Guadalajara, with about 1,000 inhabitants, whose name comes from the Latin Sanctus Torquatus, in honour of Saint Torquatus, one of the seven apostolic men who evangelised Baetica in the 1st century. Founded by the Iberians under the name Orcada, it preserves within its district the Carpetani settlement of the Llano de la Horca. It is dominated by the castle of Torremocha, the summer residence of the archbishops of Toledo and a prison for figures such as the Princess of Éboli and Cardinal Cisneros. Here was born in 1614 the still-life painter Juan de Arellano, and the town served as the setting for the television series Crónicas de un pueblo, in which it was renamed Puebla Nueva del Rey Sancho.
Castle of Torremocha
Monument
Torremocha castle, also called Santorcaz castle, forms part of the fortified complex of the Madrid town of Santorcaz, together with the seven towers of the wall and the adjoining church of San Torcuato. An oval fortress about 90 by 110 metres with walls a metre and a half thick, erected in the 14th century on an earlier structure by Archbishop Pedro Tenorio, and remodelled between the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 15th century it lost its defensive role and became a prison for clergy: prisoners held there included Cardinal Cisneros, Ana de Mendoza, princess of Éboli, and the Baron of Watteville. Today it is in a state of progressive ruin, although it has undergone several restorations, and it belongs to the town council of Santorcaz.
Confinement of the Princess of Éboli
Activity
Ana de Mendoza de la Cerda, Princess of Éboli, was confined by order of Felipe II in the castle of Torremocha before her final imprisonment in Pastrana, one of the most remembered episodes of the fortress.
Church of San Torcuato
Monument
Built between the 13th and 17th centuries and set against the wall of Torremocha castle, it preserves a triple Mudejar apse of brick and masonry, Flamboyant Gothic windows and an atrium of 1614; it has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1997.
Archaeological site of El Llano de la Horca
Nature
A Carpetani oppidum of the 3rd to 1st centuries BC excavated since 2001 on a hill of almost nine hundred metres; it is the largest and best preserved Carpetani settlement known and was left deserted when Complutum absorbed its population.
Filming of Crónicas de un pueblo
Curiosity
The TVE series Crónicas de un pueblo was filmed in these streets, with the village renamed Puebla Nueva del Rey Sancho; Santorcaz is also the birthplace of the flower painter Juan de Arellano, born here in 1614.
The imprisonment of the Princess of Éboli
Activity
Ana de Mendoza, widow of the prince of Éboli, was moved to the fortress of Santorcaz by order of Felipe II after her arrest in 1579. In 1581 she was allowed to serve the rest of her sentence confined in her palace at Pastrana.