Huélamo castle

The rock above the village

Huélamo spreads across a slope crowned by a large rock. Above remain traces of the Arab fortress, with the upper Júcar valley below.

What the ground has revealed

Archaeologist Pedro Pablo de las Muelas, born in the village, directed the excavations. Walls and a circular well place the fortress’s origin in the late 8th or early 9th century. The name points the same way: it is linked to an old Walmu in Arabic sources. Structures and pottery apparently from the late Bronze Age, still unconfirmed, also emerged between the bullring and church.

It later became an Order of Santiago commandery and a crossing between Aragón and Castile; the Order’s inspections, especially that of 1508, describe it in detail. The fortified hills of Masegosa date from the same period as its earliest walls.

Plan your visit

PNSC-S5 climbs to the castle from Plaza del Obispo: an easy 0.4 km with summer shade, suitable all year.

Before you travel

The excavations are covered, and the fortress needed urgent work in 2020. There are drops at the summit and the cistern is an open hole: keep back and do not climb the walls.

Combine with

Then explore Huélamo’s centre, where Julián Romero was born.