Moya castle

The town’s fortress

Moya castle stands between the Albacara and fourth enclosure of the walled town that named the marquisate. The town is surrounded by five enclosures and eight gates, and the coracha, a wall protecting access to water, descends the north-eastern slope, with Torre del Agua and Torre de San Roque. Materials and techniques date the walls between the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The castle belongs to the Moya historic ensemble, protected since 1982 as a historic-artistic ensemble.

The palace hiding the tower

In December 2020 work began to consolidate the keep and nearby walls and make the ascent safe, its 1980s walkways badly deteriorated. The accompanying archaeologists found more than expected. Old photographs, some from the 1930s, showed a two- or three-storey palace above the entrance towers, hiding much of the keep: the 15th-century castle became a residence in the early modern period and looked that way for about three centuries, until weaker walls fell and the castle reappeared. They found the beginnings of stairs to another floor, firing chambers linked to the first marquis, Andrés de Cabrera, a paved room predating the palace and a band of Talavera-type tiles from the 17th or 18th century. Also signs of a fire: a layer about forty centimetres thick at the entrance and fire traces beneath plaster. It could not be dated, because the layer may have been brought as fill, and need not be identified with the 1835 Carlist attack. After losing a medieval floor structure, the ground floor was covered with a large barrel vault. In September 2021 the tower was already shown with signs.

A castle at auction

In April 1975 the castle ruins were auctioned for the fifth time, for 50,000 pesetas. The buyer is unknown. In 2008–2009 the Ministry of Public Works and regional government signed an agreement for work on the wall and Concepcionistas convent.

Before the castle

An Iberian settlement lay beneath the castle, its size hard to establish because the medieval fortress covers it; remains cluster at the summit’s southern end. Beside it, on Cerro Viejo, is another of about 8 hectares.

Plan your visit

Before you travel

The town is deserted, a hillside ruin with changes of level and unstable walls. Stay on the paths and do not climb walls. Ask the town hall about access to restored areas.

Combine with

The charter, captives’ hospital and depopulation are described in Moya.