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Castle of Sot de Chera

Sot de Chera, Los Serranos, Valencia

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Activities

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Castle of Sot de Chera

Monument · Sot de Chera, Los Serranos, Valencia

The castle of Sot de Chera stands on a promontory at the centre of the town, in what is now the Castillo quarter, overlooking the River Sot. Of uncertain origin —the most widely accepted hypothesis points to an eleventh-century Arab alquería (farmstead) that would eventually be fortified— it retains walls, Iberian pottery and underground tunnels. James I granted the alquería, together with Chera, to Hurtado de Lihori in 1238; the holding remained in his family until around 1371. Its position on the border with Castile gave it strategic importance, as a meeting point of routes towards Chulilla, Gestalgar and Siete Aguas. After the war of 1429 it was devastated and occupied; returned to Alfonso the Magnanimous, it passed to the Mont Palau family, who in 1540 granted a founding charter to resettle the area. Protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1949.

Photo: Gafotas (Wikimedia Commons) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Sot de Chera