Yecla de Yeltes

Near Yecla de Yeltes, the old hillfort of Yecla la Vieja occupies a rocky spur above the meeting of the Huebra and the Varlaña. Its walls and carvings recall the Vettones who inhabited the region before Roman rule. The fortified settlement continued in use through Roman and medieval times, until around the twelfth century, when settlement shifted to the site of the present village. In the fifteenth century a church dedicated to the Virgin of the Castle was raised within the ancient enclosure.