Las Herrerías (León) (0)

Did you know that... Las Herrerías

Also known as Las Herrerías de Valcarce through which the Way of Saint James passes, it is located within the green plain of the river Valcarce, to the west of Vega de Valcarce, the village that gives its name to the municipality to which Las Herrerías also belongs. The town has three neighbourhoods, Las Herrerías, Hospital and the neighbourhood of San Julián, which is somewhat more distant. Although it is believed that Las Herrerías was populated back in the 15th century, due to the fact that there is evidence of its iron and steel activity already at that time, there are documents from the 12th and 13th centuries in which the Hospital district is named and that there was an English hospital, hence its name. It is also mentioned in a Papal bull in the 12th century. As a curiosity to say that in 1858 Las Herrerías had the category of place and Hospital was a village.

To discover What to see in Las Herrerías?

On a hill, to the south of the village of Las Herrerías, is the parish church of San Julián, from the 18th century. You can also see two Roman bridges, one of which, although with a Roman base, can be dated to the 15th century. Remains of its distant history are the castros that can be appreciated, one of them the one of San Cristobo, to about 500 meters to the northwest of the town, in the bony remains and burials appeared. To the west of the Hospital district is the Castro de Peredo, of Roman origin, where slabs and remains of buildings were found. Las Herrerías proudly displays next to the river Valcarce a group of buildings called La Herrería where the houses, the old smithy and an old mill show the machinery that replaced the old hydraulic installation. The whole village, surrounded by rounded mountains and exuberant vegetation and occasionally a small isolated house, seems to speak to the visitor of tranquillity and communion with nature.

Festivities

Las Herrerías celebrates its patron saint festivities on 25 and 26 July in honour of Santiago and Santa Ana respectively.

Traditions

According to tradition, the king of England Henry II of Plantagenet contacted the king of León, Fernando II, around the year 1177, as he had the intention of travelling to Santiago. Perhaps this is the origin of the English hospital. The truth is that today there are still remains of its church and cemetery.

Curiosities

In Las Herrerías, next to the river Valcarce, there is a beautiful fountain that replaces an older one called the Quiñones fountain and which, according to tradition, is related to Don Suero, the knight of the Passo Honroso, the Hospital de Órbigo.

The Legend

Legend has it that the origin of the village is given by a Galician family, who lived a few months inside a chestnut tree located on the slopes of Mount Capeloso before building the first building.