Castroverde de Campos: dovecotes and history in the Tierra de Campos

Out on the wide cereal plains of the Tierra de Campos, in the north-east of the province of Zamora, the small village of Castroverde de Campos carries a long history in its name and its monuments. Fewer than three hundred people live here today, but the place was once an important frontier town and the birthplace of a conquistador.

A frontier town

Settled since Roman times, Castroverde was repopulated and granted its town charter in the early 13th century, standing first on the frontier against Al-Andalus and later between the kingdoms of Leon and Castile. It was the home town of Diego de Ordas, a lieutenant of Hernan Cortes in Mexico and the first European to explore the river Orinoco, who is remembered with a monument on the main square.

Churches and dovecotes

The village once had as many as seven churches. Its finest survivor is the church of Santa Maria del Rio, of the 13th to 16th centuries, with a striking Mudejar coffered ceiling, while the ruins of San Nicolas and a Franciscan convent recall the rest. All around stand the brick and adobe buildings typical of the region, including the round dovecotes, or palomares, that have their own interpretation centre.

Getting there

Castroverde de Campos lies about sixty-five kilometres north-west of Zamora, near the borders with Leon and Valladolid and close to the bird-rich Villafafila lagoons.