Castle of Urueña

Its status as a natural stronghold between the Torozos Mountains and Tierra de Campos has conditioned the history of Urueña, disputed over the centuries by the kingdoms of Castile and León.

Its walled enclosure, which adapts to the steep edge of the moor, dates from the twelfth century and is one of the best preserved in the province; it protected a castle that was built on a Roman fortress in the mid-eleventh century at the behest of Ferdinand I. A century later, the Infanta Doña Sancha, sister of Alfonso VII, ordered the construction of the walls, with an oval perimeter. Two doors allowed access to the interior: to the flat northwest, that of the Azogue, with two cubes on its sides, and that of the Villa, with a pointed arch, located on the edge of the moor. The Castle located at the south-eastern end of the town, appears as an albarrana tower of the wall, to which it is joined by the rampart; the so-called Peinador de la Reina, the highest point of the monumental complex and whose interior is a space of five accessible floors. The last one is the viewpoint that opens at a 360 o angle, allowing to see the immense landscape that surrounds us.

The castle has a square plan and its corners are reinforced by cylindrical cubes, except for the Keep, in the south, with a square plan. Of the space between the wall and the castle, which could have constituted a former defensive courtyard, today only the lintels are preserved. Following this courtyard, is the main access, in the part that faces the town and in which illustrious characters such as Doña Urraca or María de Padilla resided. It was also the prison of Pedro Vélez, the Count of Luna or of the Infanta Beatrix of Portugal.

Visits

Visit to the “Peinador de la Reina” by prior reservation at the Tourist Office

From April to September: from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
From October to March: from 4:30 pm to 6 pm.

The castle has housed the municipal cemetery since the nineteenth century, so cannot be visited.

Two tours can be made over the rampart of the wall. The first one located on the south section (between the castle and the Villa Gate, from which you can see the valley of the hermitage of la Anunciada and the ruins of the old Benedictine monastery of the Bueso), and the other one along the west section, between the Villa Gate and the New Cube viewpoint.