Meneses de Campos

Meneses de Campos municipality
Meneses de Campos - View from the south
coat of arms	Map of Spain
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Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Palencia
Comarca :	Tierra de Campos
Coordinates	41 ° 57 ′  N , 4 ° 55 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 57 ′  N , 4 ° 55 ′  W
Height :	750  msnm
Area :	28.21 km²
Residents :	124 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.4 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	34305
Municipality number  ( INE ):	34106
administration
Website :	Meneses de Campos

Meneses de Campos is a town in northern Spain and a municipality ( municipio ) with 124 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the southwest of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon .

location

The place Meneses de Campos is located on the Río Anguijón in the south of the Comarca Tierra de Campos in the Castilian plateau at an altitude of about 750 m above sea level. d. M. The provincial capital Palencia is a good 45 km (driving distance) to the northeast; Valladolid , the capital of the neighboring province, is a good 43 km to the south-east. The climate in winter is quite cold, but in summer it is warm to hot; the sparse rainfall (approx. 430 mm / year) falls throughout the year.

Population development

year	1842	1900	1950	2000	2016
Residents	801	684	579	134	116

The population decline in the 20th century is largely due to the mechanization of agriculture and the associated loss of jobs.

economy

The farming on the fertile clay and loess soils of the Tierra de Campos and the keeping of small livestock (especially chickens) formed the livelihood of the self-sufficient population of the region for centuries ; Horses and donkeys were kept as draft and pack animals. Since the Middle Ages, handicrafts, retail trade and service companies of all kinds have developed, but these have mostly disappeared again.

history

In pre-Roman times the region belonged to the settlement area of ​​the Celtic tribe of the Vaccaeans ; Later came the Romans and Visigoths and in the 8th century the area was overrun by the Moors - however, none of the four cultures left any archaeologically usable traces in the formerly possibly forested area. Already in the 9th century Asturian-Leonese army conquered the areas north of the Duero back ( reconquista ) . At the end of the 10th century, the Moorish military leader Almansor temporarily wiped out the Christian successes, but in the 11th century the Kingdom of León expanded its territory again to the Duero border. The region was repopulated ( repoblación ), with the Basque family Tellez de Meneses from the Valle de Mena playing an important role. After previous attempts, León finally united with the Kingdom of Castile in 1230 , but disputes occurred again and again in the period that followed. The place experienced its heyday in the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period.

Attractions

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Tovar

• Nothing remains of a castle ( castillo ) belonging to the Tellez family.
• The oldest part of the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Tovar , built with stone from the nearby mountains of the Montes Torozos, is the 13th century defense tower that once connected the church with the castle. In the 16th century, when the manor had long since passed to the Albuquerque family and the castle had lost its strategic importance, the old castle chapel was demolished and replaced by a three- nave nave with adjoining apse . During this time the new portal in the late Gothic Isabelline style was built on the south side. Inside the church, the baroque high altar, covered with gold leaf , impresses , in which a Romanesque figurine of Our Lady of the Nuestra Señora del Tovar - possibly brought from home - is shown, only about 8 cm high .

Web links

Commons : Meneses de Campos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Meneses de Campos, history and places of interest - photos + information (Spanish)
• Meneses de Campos, church - photos

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).
2. ↑ Meneses de Campos - Map with altitude information
3. ↑ Meneses de Campos - Climate tables
4. ↑ Meneses de Campos - History
5. ↑ Meneses de Campos - Church