Villel
NOT TO BE MISSED
The Castle and Portales, the Sanctuary of la Fuensanta, and the hiking trail of Agua (Barranco del Tranco).
Complement your visit with:
At your way:
From Water to Sulphur – go to page
Between watercourses and hiding places – go to page
Just one step away – go to page
Entrench:
Villel, Fortines del Plano – go to page
Andatela:
Sendero de Puntos Singulares (hiking trail) – go to page
Hiking trail Alto de la Molina (Cubla) – go to page
Sendero del Agua (Barranco del Tranco) hiking trail – go to page
Services:
Inhabitants: 329
Altitude: 823 m.
Demonym: Villelino/a.
Website: www.villel.com
How to get there?
16 kilometres from Teruel on the N-330, next to the River Turia. See map
NATURAL HERITAGE
Barranco de Juan Sastre, an area with climbing possibilities for specialised climbers.
Barranco de El Tranco, ravine, a natural landscape of great beauty, it is a narrow dry gorge of about 50 metres.
El Val de la Madera, a large mountain whose pines can be up to a hundred years old.
Stairways, rock formations.
Cave of Love.
Chartera Fountain.
Fuensanta.
Cristina Fountain.
The baths, medicinal waters for stomach pains, mainly.
La Horca Hill.
Pine grove.
Millstones.
Routes:
Water route.
The GR 10 and GR 8 converge.
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
Church of Ntra. Sra. de las Nieves, S. XVIII, 18th century, Baroque style. It has three naves covered with vaults and side chapels covered with half-barrel vaults with lunettes. The tower, at the foot, is made up of a square masonry body on which two octagonal brick bodies rise.
Sanctuary of La Fuensanta, 16th century, late Gothic style. It consists of the church and an inn, connected by a passageway. It has a bell tower and choir at the foot. It has only one nave.
Hermitage of Carmen. Small masonry chapel with a square floor plan, covered with a dome. It has a small atrium. It is located next to the road between Villel and Villastar.
Hermitage of San Antonio.
Hermitage of La Aparecida, popular style. Small oratory built on the site of the apparition of the Virgin.
El Molino (private).
El Molino (público), popular style. The machinery has been preserved.
Kaolin mines.
The Castle, 12th century, the tower is preserved. In 1196, this Muslim castle came into the possession of the Temple. It has an irregular ground plan, as it adapts to the shape of the rock on which it stands. Of the walled enclosure, only a few ruins remain in poor condition. During the restoration work, the façades were plastered with plaster and the walls of the enclosure were consolidated.
Villel and its castle were part of the kingdom of the Banu-Razín (Albarracín) and were temporarily conquered by the Cid in 1099 and definitively by Alfonso II of Aragon in 1180. In 1187 the king gave it to the Order of the Hospital of San Redentor and then, in 1196, it passed to the Temple as head of the Encomienda de Villel. After the dissolution of the Order of the Temple it passes to that of San Juan and among those who governed his encomienda figure Juan Fernández de Heredia (1339) that later would be Grand Master of the order sanjuanista. In 1363 Peter I of Castile occupied this town in his campaign against Aragon despite his membership in a military order. Already in the nineteenth century, in 1810 a combat took place between Napoleonic troops and the guerrilla Villacampa.
It is a castle of irregular plant, assimilable to a quadrilateral of 40 by 25 meters, standing on a rock that watches the gorge through which the river Turia runs. You can recognize some parts of its enclosure and at the top rises the rectangular tower, already restored, 8 by 6 meters, with two floors and spiral staircase, covering the first with half-barrel vault; its walls are almost 3 meters thick. His work is of irregular stones with partially plastered faces and entrance door in arch and located in height. The current remains date between the 12th and 13th centuries although according to the accounts of El Cid, there was probably an earlier Muslim castle.
The Castle del Cid (Villel) is registered in the Aragonese Register of Goods of Cultural Interest since it is included in the list of castles considered Goods of Cultural Interest.
Entrance gates to the castle: Portal de Teruel, de la calle Medio and de la calle Arrabal.
FESTIVALS AND TRADITIONS
La Rogativa, second Sunday in May. A pilgrimage to the Fuensanta and the villagers of Villel who got married the previous year distribute bread, cakes and drinks.
September festivities in honour of the patron saints Santa Otilia and San Roque. It is held on the weekend closest to 8 September. On the first day there is a mass in honour of Fuensanta. On Saturday the mass is in honour of the patron saint, Santa Otilia, and a procession is held. The clavarios hand out cakes and refreshments in the main square. On Sunday, San Roque is celebrated with a mass, followed by a Spanish wine and a popular meal. These are days full of open-air dances, bullfights, etc.
Fiesta del Cristo. This fiesta is organized and prepared by the “quintos” when they turn 50 years old. It is held on the second Saturday in November; a Baturra mass, which the quintos/as attend dressed as Baturros. Afterwards, a Spanish wine is offered to all the neighbours. In the evening there is a dance and then a bonfire where dinner is prepared for all those attending.