Saucedilla

Saucedilla
St John the Baptist´s church of Saucedilla, with the Sierra de Gredos snow-covered behind
Coat of arms
Saucedilla Location in Spain
Coordinates: 39°51′08.46″N 5°40′40.82″W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Extremadura
Province	Cáceres
Comarca	Campo Arañuelo
Municipality	Saucedilla
Government
• Mayor	Urbano García Díaz (Independent)
Area
• Total	60 km2 (20 sq mi)
Elevation	258 m (846 ft)
Population (2010)
• Total	859
• Density	12.2/km2 (32/sq mi)
Demonym	naveros
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Website	http://www.saucedilla.es

(This is a summary and approximate translation of the same article in Spanish Wikipedia)

Saucedilla is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2010 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 859 inhabitants. It belongs to the Campo Arañuelo County (Comarca del Campo Arañuelo) which capital is Navalmoral de la Mata.

Geography and Nature

The situation of Saucedilla is really spectacular. On the north, the Sierra de Gredos and the Tiétar River; on south and west, the Miravete Sierra and the Tagus River (Tajo in Spanish) and Serrejón Sierra. The climate is Mediterranean (with tendency to dryness). The village stands on an extensive plain of clayey ground.

• Dehesa

The village is surrounded with immense dehesas. A dehesa is a light holm-oak wood. In these holm-oak woods, the cattle raising of cows, sheep, goats and pigs is very common. The cattle ranch of Fighting Bull ("toros bravos") is also widespread. There are some breedings ("ganaderías") at Saucedilla (Cerro Alto, La Anguila).

• Arrocampo Reservoir

The Arrocampo Reservoir was created at 1976 to refrigerate the turbines of the Almaraz nuclear power plant, which is near Saucedilla. With a system of dams and dikes, the water, taken from Tagus river, cover a circuit of 11 km which allow the refrigeration of turbines of the nuclear plant. This reservoir is, actually, an important Special Protection Area (SPA) for wild birds. (In Spanish: Zona Especial de Protección para las Aves, ZEPA.) A lot of birds can be watched at Arrocampo: white stork, lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), purple heron (Ardea purpurea), squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides), black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus), osprey ...

• Cañada Real Leonesa Occidental (Main Drover´s Road of Western León)

Saucedilla was always a land of sheep. (Its coat of arms has a ram.) Extremadura (and Saucedilla), was passing and transhumance lands from the Middle Age. In medieval Spain the existence of migratory flocks on the largest scale, which were carefully organized through the system of the Mesta gave rise to orderly drovers road, called cabañeras in Aragon, carreradas in Catalonia and cañadas reales in Castile.

• Irrigated Lands

The traditional activity of Saucedilla was always, during centuries, subsistence farming (dry farming), with also the cattle of sheep, goats, cows and pigs. The cereal agriculture has produced throughout years and years in Saucedilla lands: wheat, barley, oats, chickpeas, broad beans and root vegetables. Also olives and wine.

The new irrigation farming: the Valdecañas Reservoir upon the Tagus (on southeast of the village), and the construction of a lot of irrigation channels, had made possible to irrigate many farmlands of Saucedilla. Fodder for cows and sheep, fruits like apricots, etc., are produced thanks to the arrival of water in the 1980s.

• Arrocampo Ornithological Park

• Special Protection Areas (SPA)

There are two Special Protection Areas at Saucedilla: Arrocampo Reservoir Special Protection Area and Lesser Kestrel Colony of Saucedilla Special Protection Area.

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  Dehesa (holm oak wood) at Saucedilla

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  Arrocampo Reservoir

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  Main drover´s roads of Spain. "Cañada Real Leonesa Occidental" is nº3. It cross through Saucedilla

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  Elevation water tower for irrigation

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  Information office of Arrocampo Reservoir Special Protection Area

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  Squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides). This small heron can be watched at Arrocampo Reservoir

Demography

• End of 15th century: Jews in Saucedilla

• 1960s: the emigration years.

• Foreign population actually in Saucedilla: the Moslem community

History

Francisco Tuttavilla, Duke of San Germán, Lord of Saucedilla (17th century)

• 14th century: foundation of the municipality. Relationship with the city of Plasencia

• 15th century: development of the municipality.

• 16th century: building of the church (gothic and Renaissance styles)

• 17th century: Lord of Saucedilla: Francisco Tuttavilla.

Building of the juridiction column (rollo jurisdiccional in Spanish).

• 18th century: Creation of Saucedilla County. The Counts of Saucedilla.

• The Independence War ("Guerra de Independencia"): the troops of Napoléon (...)

Monuments

• St John the Baptist´s Church (16th century). Gothic and Renaissance styles

• Juridiction Column (17th century)

• Plasencia Cross

Gallery

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  St John the Baptist´church of Saucedilla

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  Juridiction column

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  A wiew of the church

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  Gothic vault

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  The nave from the choir

Bibliography

• Saucedilla: santo y seña de un pueblo extremeño, Juan Carlos RUBIO MASA & José Luis RUBIO MASA; Ed. Saucedilla, Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Saucedilla, 1994

• Saucedilla: costumbres, casas y familias, Ángel Marzal González; Navalmoral de la Mata, Ed. Publisher Navalmoral,1999

External links

• www.saucedilla.es (in Spanish)
• Birding in Extremadura: Arrocampo Reservoir (in English)