FINCA EL PULPILLO
LOCATION
The estate of the Pulpillo, is part of a large agricultural area in the municipality of Yecla. It is 12 km from the town centre, in the direction of the neighbouring village of Montealegre del Castillo (Castilla La Mancha) along the MU18A road. It is located 90 km (50 min) from Alicante, (1:20 h) 130 km from Valencia, and 100 km (1 h) from Murcia. Yecla, with a population of 35,000, has all kinds of business services, extensive shops, a hospital etc and is about 15 minutes away.
The estate is bounded to the North by the foothills of the Sierra de Tobarrillas and to the south by the mountains of the Atalayas. The estate is a prime location for the cultivation of limestone based vines including the Monastrell grapevine, and has very high potential to produce quality wines. In this region a range of cereals are also abundant.
The estate is located next to Mount Aribi National Park and a short distance from the archeologically important site of Cerro De Los Santos. Here civilisations from the Neolithic age used the area and constructed a temple which became a place of pilgramiage. This was later destroyed in Roman times but many important artefacts have been found at the site. For details see: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_de_los_Santos
The estate climate is continental Mediterranean, cold winters and hot summers. Rainfall is moderate, around 300 litres per m² a year (300mm/year) and very scarce during the summer period.
THE RANCH / FINCA
The estate of the Pulpillo has a cultivated area of 412.80 hectares and has centralized plots in the same environment, but with a few different soil types and an adapted crop to each of these soils.
On the highest area, close to the Moratillas are the plantations of wheat and cereal (235.63 Ha). Near ‘la Hoya la Hermosa’ are the old dry farming vineyards, with an excellent quality of grape. (52.92 Ha). There are plots of olive planted in the dry land (49.7 Ha).
In the lower area, with more clay land and irrigation, vines stretch in trellises with varieties of grape, Monastrell and Syrha. (8.63 Ha). The rest of irrigated land is exploited for crops of vegetables, cereal and wheat, etc. (65.35 Ha)
The property has an abundance of water and it is easy to obtain. It has its own large capacity reservoir, as well as a natural stream flowing from an ancient mined aquifer.
THE ESTATE
The farmhouse of the Pulpillo estate is located 12km from the town of Yecla. It is enclosed within a fence around its perimeter and divided into three big areas: on the one hand are dwellings, on the other the garden with the Chapel and other barns and farming.
THE HOUSING
The complex has a set of eight townhouses, with three of them inhabited by staff today. The date of construction dates back to the end of the 19th century, having made various additions and improvements throughout the 20th century. The architecture is a magnificent example of Mediterranean rural architecture, with houses on two levels, highlighting the Dovecote tower at one end.
The buildings are load-bearing walls made of masonry, floor slabs on wooden beams, and steps covered with curved ceramic tiles. The state of conservation of the housing is good, in the inhabited dwellings, all kinds of amenities such as heating, water, electricity are present.
Between all the houses the main house stands out, situated in the centre of the complex. It is a house distributed on two floors; kitchens, pantries, lounge, cellar, store room, WC and a large dining hall are situated on ground floor. On the first floor is the main lounge and four spacious bedrooms with two full bathrooms. This leads on to three more bedrooms, another lounge and bathroom. There are three more unused bedrooms on a third floor. The housing perfectly preserves the original aesthetics of the house, highlighting the wooden beams, which continues through the whole house including the impressive fireplace with furnace firing on the ground floor and refined moldings from the ceiling of the main hall.
The total complex contains 29 bedrooms spread over the 7 dwellings. It would be easy reconnect any of these to extend the main house or convert the whole complex back into one huge manor house as it used to be originally.
The Manor house was split into smaller units by the industrialist Joaquin Contreras with the main house still being used by his family as a summer retreat. One of the other houses is occupied by a farmer who runs the estate. The Layout is as follows:
1. House One: Ground floor, store room, stairs to first floor with lounge / kitchen with fireplace, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
2. House Two: Ground floor, a lounge / kitchen with fireplace, a pantry, and full bathroom, and a large bedroom. Stairs to first floor with two bedrooms.
3. House Three: Stairs to first floor with a lounge / kitchen with fireplace, outdoor balcony to the street, a bathroom, two bedrooms, one full and one with window inside to a courtyard, plus a small room that was used as a pantry. Stairs to ground with three large bedrooms all with windows and natural light. This home has been unused for 25 years. 4. House Four: The main Contreras house. The ground floor features large vaulted hall with large fireplace and two pantries, kitchen, living room and in the hallway to a toilet, a cellar and a store room. Upstairs is a large living room with balcony and storeroom. There are two hallways, one leading to three bedrooms, one bedroom with outside terrace and the other hallway leading to one bedroom and new two bathrooms. There is a link door which connect it to House Five.
5. House Five: Opens to a stairway with ground floor room with fireplace which is currently used as a store. On the first floor is an internal balcony with hallway leading to 3 bedrooms, a bathroom with two separate toilets and living room/kitchen with pantry room. From the hallway these is a door leading to a second and third floor which has three more bedrooms two of which are very large. These three rooms are unrenovated and haven’t been used for over 25 years.
Next to house five there is a double garage and then an outside courtyard leading to the Bodega, the wine making rooms which extend to the vats and large storage room underground. Next to these is house six.
6. House Six. On the ground floor the entrance hall there are two bedrooms. The stairs leads up to a living room with fireplace, bathroom and pantry, the window overlooking the courtyard. On the third floor are two more bedrooms.
7. House Seven: All the rooms are on the ground floor and the entrance passage has 3 bedrooms and a bathroom before leading into the living room with fireplace. There is then a kitchen which looks out over the stable yard, There is a larger bathroom and a forth bedroom.
Throughout the estate there are five country houses, two of which are restored and the other three are derelict. There and also two buildings in the vineyard where harvest workers can take shelter in bad weather, both are in good condition. There is a new reservoir with capacity of 15,000 cubic meters of water for irrigation and to supply the main house, and on the other side of the finca a natural underground spring where the water is collected in an old reservoir. There are three separate buildings with irrigation pumps located around the finca.
THE GARDEN
The garden is located opposite the hamlet on its southeast side, consisting of a large pine forest, walking around different paths there are seating areas with barbecue, benches, playgrounds, etc. There is a large pool in the centre of the garden, surrounded by a large area of natural grass. Around the pool is paved with nonslip tiles and present a geometric composition surrounded by abundant vegetation, shrub, flower and trees such as Cypress, pines, etc. In the lower part of the garden there is a drinking water well.
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Agricultural and livestock buildings
In the rear of the farmhouse and attached to it, there are the sheds for cattle, goats and sheep, containing a long and large trough within an area of 370 m2. Attached to this appears an open courtyard of 425 m2.
Separated from the housing and in the western part of the plot, are the stables containing 12 horse boxes, training pens, old laundry, etc. and an area of 780 m2 of covered barns. Next to this are the wide fields to feed and train the horses.
There are sheds for cattle and an entire milking parlor facility of 430 m2.
The total of yard fenced for cattle is 3100 m2.
The garages, barns and agricultural sheds are located on the other side of the road. Opposite the housing on the right bank of the road are two large garages of 800 m2 to store agricultural machinery.
Within the housing, the first building and under the pigeon loft, there is another great store of 130 m2 to park vehicles.
THE WINE CELLAR
The winery is located adjacent and in the back of the main house. It is accessed from a courtyard and is divided into two distinct areas; on the ground floor is the wine and olive pressing area with large presses. This is where the grapes were crushed to obtain of the grape juice wort and in the basement where they stored deposits of the wine in large vats. There is another interior room downstairs where the wine barrels were kept.
HISTORICAL NOTES
THE PULPILLO
Chapel of San Francisco de Paula, is an example of an early 20th century chapel (the old Chapel of San Juan Bautista)
The Pulpillo is one of the most impressive, silent and most captivating iridescent grey landscapes in the agriculture area of Yecla.
Close to Mount Arabi and at the foot of the hills of the Moratillas Ridge the dirt roads (old County Highways) of Almansa to Jumilla and Yecla to Montealegre del Castillo come together. The estate and lands of the Pulpillo, are at a distance twelve kilometers from the town of Yecla in a northwesterly direction.
Known for its archaeology sites of the bronze, Iberian and Roman times, this place with its area of agricultural wealth, the existence of clay and abundant water, has been used since the 4th century BC. With its close proximity to the Iberian sanctuary of Saints, during the late Roman period, between the 1st and 3rd centuries, it was a great centre for ceramic production and, to less extent, production continued through to the late medieval period.
The Country Inn or ‘posada’ was already famous in the modern age. To this end, Juan Blázquez reminds us that, in 1606, Elvira Quílez leases the Inn of the Pulpillo to Juan López, along with 12 bushels of plantations, for two years at 450 Reales (old currency) each year. This author highlights “the property belonged to Elvira until 1623, who then swapped the establishment with his brother Juan Bautista de Amaya, in exchange for some houses in the village. Juan Bautista left the business, dedicating the building as a working house, as recorded in a document of 1670, in which the land used to belong to Clara Díaz Manrique.
This being a rich area of aquifers, also named The Pulpillo by the District Commissioner Pascual Giménez Rubio, when you refer to a particular company’s waters, the Santa María de la Cabeza, undertook an excavation in the underground stream of the Pulpillo, to the West of the estate, and managed to find an aquifer that continues today (written in 1865) fertilizing a good portion of the land.
The Pulpillo is in one of the valleys and extends along other valleys in ‘de la Hoya del Pozo’ and ‘Hondo Del Campo’ as recorded by the author Pascual Madoz, It has also been stamped and sealed in the immortal pages his literature. Thus, Antonio de Hoyos reminds us that here the Master Azorín discovered the great plain of Yecla, filled with vineyards and olive groves.
If we enter the works of José Martínez Ruiz, ‘La Voluntad’, part I, chapter XXIV, this describes the landscape and its remoteness in an exquisite way. Quoting ‘The Master’, he writes:
“Yuste and Azorin (both writers) have gone to the Pulpillo. The Pulpillo is one of the Great Plains of Yecla. Large plantations of vineyards, and olive groves spread far, yellowish hills, with tiny gray, symmetrical, uniform patches. Lost in the infinite level appears the farmhouse: the oxen walk in the distance, following on parallel footprints in the blackish earth”. “And a white road, in violent twists, wriggling between the green crops, is lost, widening, in the remote border”.
The grandchildren of today see the road that crosses this place as a paved road used by motor vehicles. However, it is still joyful to see circulating on the same road carts pulled by dapple grey horses, trotting into the distance.
The Pulpillo is arranged with poplar groves with their water supplies, worker houses and an already Centennial Chapel, protected under the watchful eye of a sundial. A wood pigeon’s flight warns us of the existence of their white shelters, dovecots strategically located at the corners of the houses.
Among the old houses is the house of Cayetano Ibáñez Ortega (1760 to 1837), who is recorded on the Sundial there. This individual, who belonged to the family Real Maestranza de Ronda, count among their direct descendants, the distinguished grandson Antonio Ibáñez Galiano (1829 to 1890), Treasurer priest of la Purísima of Yecla and Bishop of the Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín, who spent long periods of times at one of the houses, which he had inherited from his powerful ancestor, Yuste and Azorin described it thus:
“There are three or four farm houses together in the Pulpillo: one of them is that of the Bishop.” Yuste and Azorin. Whitewashed ancient building of yellowish paint: has four tiny balconies: before the house extends an abandoned orchard with the dilapidated walls. And in one of the corners of the garden, two blackish cypress trees with pollarded crowns.
The maestro loves this lonely plain; Here you forget men and things for a few days. The house is surrounded by an old poplar grove; at the end is a water source that fills a wide pond”.
The so-called Priest Bishop’s House, located on the right side of the road from Yecla to Montealegre del Castillo, is a very big house, rectangular, datable at the end of the 18th century, with the whitewash walls (inside must hold some oratory or chapel) on which a southern Moorish roof supports a whitish dove cote with a little tower above. In the corner of the building that faces the main façade, lies a large sundial made by Isidro Carpena in plaster stone, well preserved and dating back to 1804. So testifies by the inscription on the sundial, which reads:
In one of the corners of the building is a poorly placed, Maestrante coat of arms.
Looking at the Bishop’s parish house and divided by the road lies the Pulpillo inheritance, the property which belonged to the Macedonian priest Vidal Herrero, inherited by their footman José Lorenzo Azorín, better known as “Pepe don Macedonio” (we were informed that the chapel shrine was named in memory of a deceased son of the concerned José Lorenzo called Francisco). The Finca Pulpillo was later acquired the by the industrialist Joaquín Contreras Martínez governing it; rural complex, consisting of a series of houses of tillage, farm, stables, cellar, warehouses for grain and supplies, in addition to a dense Grove with pool, well, Dovecote and Chapel.
The chapel of the Pulpillo, dedicated to St. Francisco of Asis (old San Juan Bautista), is a freestanding building of 7.35 meters long by 6 meters in width, which dates back to early 20th century (to 1915) and subsequent reforms have been verified.
Juan Blázquez and Azorin Canto bring news of the existence of a chapel in the Pulpillo in 1622, owned by Catalina Muñoz. Years later, in 1689, he left it to his granddaughter Maria Hidalgo de las Nieves, staying long time abandoned by his heirs until it was closed. In the course of the 18th century, having lost his testamentary documents, several landowners in the place, among which were Juan Ortuño Soriano, Juan Ibáñez Soriano, Hidalgo Anton Quintana and Francisco Muñoz Vicente, decided to rebuild it on 24 January 1782.
With a single ridge, it has a double sloping roof with Arabic tiles, while the corners are reinforced with buttresses.
A simple facade with an embossed wooden door located at one end. The gable is crowned by a belfry with a slot provided for bell ringing, a cross and weather vane.
Inside the Chapel, which has been very well looked after with flat wood ceiling, dominated by a front (as an altarpiece) neo-Gothic worked in wood, with hollow or niche that houses a small sculpture image of San Francisco de Paula. It depicts a bearded monk who is wearing a dark habit and holds a shaft in the right hand, while the left hand holds a cross.
On the table of the altar, a modern sculptured image of The Virgin of la Milagrosa; and lectern which takes the form of a pilgrim shell.
Flanking the altarpiece are two painted frescos of Angels on the surface of the wall, the left (facing the Viewer) carries a sheath of corn and the one on the right a bowl of grapes and vines. Both are the work of the painter Rafael Roses Ribadavia, signed in 1987 in the right bottom corner.
To the left as you enter there is a red marble holy water basin recessed in the wall. On the side walls are simple “Stations of the Cross” formed by a series of engravings or framed prints, representing “the four seasons”, of French origin.
Towards 1915, when the chapel was rebuilt, it was placed under the patronage of San Juan Bautista. This is due to the initiative of the Macedonian priest Vidal Herrero, who took a statue to the chapel of the Pulpillo from the chapel of San Juan in Yecla, which in the 18th century was under the patronage of San Juan Bautista (where again today it presides over the altar). In exchange he commissioned a new statue (which he paid for) which was made by the sculptor José Antonio López Palao, who then perished in the prelude of the Spanish civil war.
In the decades of the nineteenth and twentieth century, the Pulpillo celebrated San Juan Bautista Saints Day (on 24 June), where farm labourers came to taste the succulent gazpachadas (a typical local food), made from locally harvested produce.
The Chapel of Pulpillo dozing in the sunset under the shade and cool from the Grove that protects, and shines on the face of the Earth.
FINCA EL PULPILLO
CTRA MU 18-A , 12 KM
YECLA (MURCIA)
SPAIN
For English
Tel: +44 7957 208755
Brian Webb
para Español
TLF: +44 7717 222799.
Conchi Contreras-Alonso
PLANS OF THE FINCA DEL PULPILLO YECLA (MURCIA