San Medel on the Arlanzón: History and Trails

San Medel is located on the right bank of the Arlanzón River and already existed at the beginning of the 10th century.

History

The place was formerly called Villabáscones; other historical forms of the name were Villabáscones de San Medel and Samedel.

By 944 at the latest, a monastic community was living at the San Martín Monastery at the entrance to San Medel. In 963, the abbot of San Martín Monastery donated it to San Pedro de Cardeña. You can view these early references as a chronological sequence: the place name, the monastic community and the donation of 963 represent three different historical anchors.

Culture and Archaeology

A buttress and heavily deformed sections of wall remain within the village area from the former hermitage of Saint Emeterius and Saint Celedonius. San Emeterio y San Celedonio in San Medel is regarded as a medieval place of worship, or as a sanctuary or hermitage. Near the settlement, a hermitage dedicated to Saint Emeterius and Saint Celedonius was built in the direction of the banks of the Arlanzón. The altarpiece in San Medel comes from the San Pablo convent.

In San Medel, El Millar is regarded as the site of a rural settlement or villa with a Late Antique cultural attribution. The El Millar necropolis was the cemetery of a Roman villa in San Medel. An adult was buried with grave goods in Grave IX; the grave was one of the cemetery’s outstanding burials at the Roman villa. The historical evidence can be considered side by side: architectural fragments, a sacred site, an altarpiece and grave finds offer different ways of approaching San Medel.

The El Millar necropolis in San Medel also yielded a Late Antique burial complex dating from between the 4th and 5th centuries AD. This dating adds another chronological reference to the classification of the rural settlement or villa and the archaeological findings.

River Landscape

A historic watercourse from a weir on the Arlanzón was used to irrigate gardens and other plots of land in the area around San Medel. Next to San Medel’s village square stands a restored single-arch bridge providing access to the mill channel of an old, well-preserved mill.

When comparing holiday apartments in San Medel, you can compare travel dates, apartment type and cancellation conditions on the respective listing page. For thematic classification, the river landscape, sacred history, archaeology and the route along the Arlanzón stand alongside one another as different focal points.

Trails

The two distance figures help you compare a shorter and a longer distance within the same section. The route between Ibeas and Burgos runs parallel to the Arlanzón River, passes through several localities and reaches San Medel. On the section near San Medel, Castrillo del Val is 0.5 km before it and Castañares 2.6 km after it.

Other Places

Other places: San Juan De Ortega, Los Tomillares, Ailanes, Trespaderne, Quintanilla San García, La Rad, Neila, Monasterio De Rodilla

For the higher-level travel overview: Burgos.