Chelva

Chelva climbs a steep slope above its river, its old streets following the contours between the castle and the irrigated gardens below. The royal road from Valencia to Castile passed through its medieval quarters. In 1390 the town became the centre of a viscounty, while Christian and Morisco neighbourhoods grew alongside the older Andalusi settlement. The expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609 transformed Chelva and the surrounding lordship, prompting new settlement charters for lands whose inhabitants had been forced away.