Spring Equinox 2011

Castle of Sobroso & Castro de Troña, Mondariz

We took a drive up to the recently restored castle of Sobroso, way up on top of a very high hill. One of the most interesting facts about the place comes from relatively recent history - in the 1930's a journalist bought the place and began to restore it with the intention of living there, but once the fascist Franco regime took power, he was executed and his possessions passed to the government, who used it strategically during the civil war, but after left it to ruin.

Also in the area is a church built right on top of a castro (Celtic village). We took a look around, and were surprised to find half of the church burnt out, even though the sign on the door shows that it is still a functioning church.

It struck me, as dad went round with his divining rods, that the castro, the castle, and the church have all been built on this hill for the same reason - it contains a natural water source. If you're looking to set up a village away from the Romans, or you want to build a castle to fight the Moors, or you want to have a church to control the local pagans, you need to control their access to water. That's also why a lot of the sacred sites we visit have natural springs nearby - the holy well is not just a spiritual place, but also a place to drink. Mind you, we've noticed before that a lot of these places have quarries nearby as well, and if you're talking about megalithic structures, which came first - the location or the desire to build?
Vic