Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Valdepiélagos

What to see and do in Valdepiélagos (Cuenca del Medio Jarama, Madrid): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities

Towns near Valdepiélagos

Spain › Community of Madrid › Cuenca del Medio Jarama › Valdepiélagos

What to see and do in Valdepiélagos

Valdepiélagos
Village
Valdepiélagos is a small municipality of about 600 inhabitants in the northeast of the Community of Madrid, next to Talamanca de Jarama, from whose jurisdiction Charles IV exempted it by granting it the title of town on 3 May 1801. Its name has two possible origins: it could come from valle and piélago, in the sense of valley of many waters, or recall that its former residents, coming from Talamanca, used the place to dry and tan hides in the sun, from which piel más lagos ('hide plus pools') would derive, alluding to its streams and aquifers. At 744 metres of altitude, it has a continental climate with hot summers and cold winters with little snow. It preserves the 16th-century church of the Assumption, and has hosted, since 1996, one of the first ecovillages in Spain.
Church of la Asunción de Valdepiélagos
Monument
Church of 1552 with a rectangular plan, built in stone and brick, with a three-bell belfry almost always crowned by a stork's nest. It served as a militia barracks and suffered damage during the Civil War.
The town charter of Valdepiélagos
Curiosity
On 3 May 1801 Charles IV granted the title of town to this place, which was thus separated from the jurisdiction of Talamanca de Jarama to which it had belonged since the Middle Ages. Its first documentary mention is a privilege of Alfonso XI of 1335.
Trail of las Fuentes de Valdepiélagos
Activity
A waymarked route that starts from the Plaza Mayor, passes the town hall of 1949 and the 16th-century church of the Asunción, and links up the springs of the district, among them the Fuente el Pilar, restored in 2009 along with the old washing place.