Maranchón

Maranchón municipality
Maranchón - the townscape
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile-La Mancha
Province :	Guadalajara
Comarca :	Señorío de Molina-Alto Tajo
Coordinates	41 ° 2 ′  N , 2 ° 22 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 2 ′  N , 2 ° 22 ′  W
Height :	1256  msnm
Area :	153.32 km²
Residents :	229 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	1.49 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	19280, 19281
Municipality number  ( INE ):	19170
administration
Website :	www.maranchon.org

Maranchón refers to a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with 229 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the northeast of the province of Guadalajara in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha in central Spain. The Catholic parish belongs to the diocese of Sigüenza-Guadalajara .

location

The place Maranchón is located in the Iberian Mountains in the northeast of the province of Guadalajara near the border with the province of Soria at an altitude of approx. 1250 meters above sea level. d. M. The distance to the southwestern provincial capital Guadalajara is approx. 100 kilometers (driving distance). The city of Sigüenza is about 42 kilometers to the west; the small but historically and culturally significant town of Medinaceli is only about 30 kilometers to the northwest. The Río Tajuña rises in the municipality near the village of Clares .

Population development

year	1960	1970	1981	1991	2001	2010
Residents	727	660	353	225	208	288

In the 1960s, the formerly independent villages of Clares , Balbacil, Turmiel and Codes were incorporated. In the first half of the 20th century, what was then still a significantly smaller community at times even had over 2,000 inhabitants. The increasing mechanization of agriculture and the resulting loss of jobs have contributed to a large extent to the significant decline in the population in recent decades.

economy

For centuries the community lived exclusively from growing grain ( barley and wheat ), which was mainly operated for self-sufficiency ; livestock husbandry (cattle, sheep, goats, chickens), however, played a much more important role for a long time. For centuries, the town of Maranchón served as a mercantile, craft and cultural center for the hamlets and farmsteads in its area, which have now mostly disappeared. Today agriculture still dominates the economy, but there is also income from tourism (rental of holiday homes). The Spanish energy giant Iberdrola SA installed a wind farm with a total output of over 200 MW in the municipality in the 2000s .

history

A Celtiberian necropolis has been uncovered near the village of Clares ; however, so far neither Roman nor Visigoth traces have been discovered. After the Arab-Moorish conquest , large areas in the north of the Iberian Peninsula were depopulated , which began in the 10th century and in the second half of the 11th century under Alfonso VI. Completed reconquest ( reconquista ) of New Castile , which reached its preliminary climax in 1085 when the city of Toledo , located about 200 kilometers to the southwest, was repopulated ( repoblación ).

Attractions

Maranchón

Maranchón - Torre de Reloj

• Most of the houses in the village are made of rubble stones; later many were plastered.
• The parish church ( Nuestra Señora de la Asunción ) is a single-nave building from the 16th / 17th centuries. Century with a remarkable baroque portal on the south side.
• The clock tower ( Torre de Reloj ) was built in the 18th century and towers over the church tower itself.
• The Hermit Church ( Ermita de la Virgen de los Olmos ) is about a kilometer from the village.
• A probably baroque fountain ( Fuente Vieja ) stands in a square in the center of the village.

Clares

• The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunsión , dedicated to the Assumption of Mary , dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. Century and has replaced a too small or dilapidated Romanesque previous building from which the stone baptismal font is still preserved.
• A little outside the village of Clares , which still has around 15 inhabitants, a Celtiberian necropolis was uncovered in 1914 , which - together with the two sites near Anguita - is one of the most important in northern Spain due to the finds made here. A jewelry interpreted as a diadem or necklace with pearls made of baked clay ( arcilla cocida ) and two other pieces are now in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid .

Web links

• Maranchón, church - photo
• Maranchón, Ermita - photo

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).