Anchuela del Pedregal: Churches, Chapels and Sierra de Caldereros

Anchuela del Pedregal lies on a hillside at the foot of the Sierra de Caldereros. In the wider Molina–Alto Tajo area, this sierra is designated a natural monument. Between the expansive landscape and the small-scale townscape are different scales that can be considered separately.

Culture

Anchuela del Pedregal is home to the Iglesia de San Andrés Apóstol, a single-nave church with a narrow, tall Baroque main altarpiece. The building thus combines a clear basic form with a prominently articulated altar area.

At the entrance to the village stands the Ermita de San José. It has a richly decorated portal with design elements in the pre-Columbian style; geometric shapes can be found on the exterior and interior walls. The ermita was built by an Indiano, a native son of Anchuela del Pedregal.

The Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Gavilán has medieval origins and was extensively enlarged and altered in the 18th century. Above the chancel, the reconstructed roof structure contains an almizate in which eight-pointed stars and diagonally positioned crosses alternate as Mudéjar decoration in 25 square panels.

In the upper part of Anchuela del Pedregal, the remains of an earlier settlement with sunken houses have been preserved. An old cemetery has also been preserved in the upper part of the village. Both details point to different forms of past construction and use.

A pairón dating from 1900 stands along a path near Anchuela del Pedregal. Its four niches presumably include depictions of San José, San Vicente and the souls in purgatory, among others.

Townscape

The streets of Anchuela del Pedregal are predominantly laid out as terraces running from east to west. Their orientation reflects a particular organization of the town space and complements the hillside location with a visible structure.

The washhouse of Anchuela del Pedregal is also part of the townscape. It has two basins; a wall fountain with two spouts supplies it with water. The facility is thus characterized by its basins and the specific form of its water supply.

Paths

A path leads to the Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Gavilán and branches off opposite the road leading from the N-211 to the village entrance. The chapel is about two kilometers from the village. For orientation, a named turnoff and an explicitly approximate distance can be distinguished here.

When comparing holiday apartments in Anchuela del Pedregal, check the travel dates, room category and cancellation conditions on the offer pages. For different travel plans, you can rank these three fields according to their respective importance without losing sight of the village’s cultural and scenic points of reference.

More village pages

More village pages: Luzaga, Sacedón, Hita, Ventosa, Ciruelas, Poveda De La Sierra, Miedes de Atienza and Mazarete.

Traditions

In the past, pilgrimages took place in May, involving Anchuela del Pedregal, Novella and Tordelpalo.

For the overarching travel overview: Guadalajara.