Espinosa del Camino (Burgos) (0)

Did you know that... Espinosa del Camino

It belongs to the natural space of the Montes de Oca, next to the road that connects Burgos with Logroño. Its municipal district is crossed by the Retorto River, a tributary of the Tirón River, and by the French Way of Saint James. Around the year 1408 is when the town of Espinosa del Camino appears for the first time quoted in a writing of the cathedral of Burgos, and in 1515 it is named again in the book of goods of the bishopric. It belonged to the lordship of the hospital of Villafranca. It was one of the fourteen Places that formed the Intendencia de Burgos during the period 1785-1833, within the jurisdiction of Villafranca Montes de Oca, in the district of Juarros.

A little more history

It was a village with the category of royal villa and as such it had a pedáneo mayor and as others of the zone it was constituted in constitutional town hall in the party of Belorado to the fall of the old Regime. It is known that it had a hospital for the poor and pilgrims as well as the classic elements that made the Way easier for the pilgrims.

What to see in Espinosa del Camino?

In Espinosa del Camino you can see their houses with wooden structures in the purest style of popular architecture of the area, some of them show on their facades historical coats of arms, attesting to the importance of the people who lived in the past. As in all small towns, the parish church stands out above the hamlet, that of Espinosa, under the title of Our Lady of the Assumption, is a modest Renaissance building from the sixteenth century.

To discover

The belfry of the church was rebuilt in the eighteenth century and all of it has been gradually enlarged, collaborating in it the inhabitants of the village with money and labor. It has an eighteenth-century alabaster façade and at the top there is a niche with a polychrome statue of St. Indaletius from the twelfth century. In its surroundings there are still extensive autochthonous forests as well as a gorge of more than 5 km opened by the river Oca in its course towards the region of Bureba.

Festivities

Espinosa celebrates its fiestas on 15 August in honour of the Assumption of Our Lady.​

Tradiciones

At the exit of Espinosa del Camino along the Jacobean route, in the vicinity of Villafranca Montes de Oca, you begin to see the ruins of the old monastery of San Felices de Oca, from the 6th to the 8th centuries and mentioned in 863. These remains of the monastery remind us that, according to tradition, this is the place where the remains of the founder of the city of Burgos, Count Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, are buried. The only remains of this Mozarabic monastery are a horseshoe arch and a ruinous chapel dedicated to San Felices.

Curiosities

In Espinosa del Camino the French Way begins its slow ascent to the Oca Mountains. In the past, the route of the Way of Saint James and the Royal Way coincided in this section, but today the Way of Saint James crosses the village through its long street.