Castle of La Puebla de los Infantes

The castle of Puebla de los Infantes is located in the heart of the present-day town centre of this municipality. Its strategic position, on top of the highest rocky plateau in the area, flanked by two ravines that converge to the north, makes it easy to defend, as the only accessible pass to enter the fortress was to the south.  From this enclave it was possible to control the communication routes between the Guadalquivir Valley and the Sierra Morena to Extremadura, which were essential for the control of the territory in times of conflict. 

Its construction began in the 14th century, when the ‘Banda Gallega’ was formed, a defensive line that protected the Kingdom of Seville from the neighbouring Kingdom of Portugal. After the Castilian conquest of these territories, it became necessary to defend and repopulate them, especially those furthest from the main urban centres. This led to the erection of castles and towers to guarantee both their protection and their control by the Crown of Castile.

Although the origin of the castle dates back to the 14th century, researchers have differentiated between two construction stages: 

• First stage or foundational stage (14th century) to which the west, south and east walls of the wall correspond, as well as the towers.
• Second stage (late 15th century) in which the north wall was built, the south and east parapets were rebuilt and the tower chambers were raised using limestone ashlars.

The fortress maintained its defensive character throughout the 15th century, with the conflicts that took place between 1471 and 1474 during the war between the noble supporters of Henry IV's daughter, Juana la Beltraneja, and those of her sister, Isabella of Castile, being particularly relevant.  At the beginning of the 16th century, with the stabilisation of the territory, it began to lose its functionality, falling into a progressive state of abandonment and ruin. Little by little, its walls were used as a base for the houses of the people of the village, becoming practically hidden by the new buildings until, at the beginning of the 21st century, the recovery of this unique building was undertaken.

The Castle of La Puebla de los Infantes has a trapezoidal floor plan measuring 35 m long by 25 m wide, adapting its morphology to the topography of the terrain, making the most of the unevenness of the rocky plateau on which it stands and at some points being founded directly on the rock. 

It originally consisted of four walls and four towers, of which only the two southern towers, three complete walls and one partial one, remain standing today. The walls were built using locally quarried masonry, i.e. stone from the hill itself, as well as limestone from the surrounding area, taken with lime mortar. Along with masonry, brick and lime concrete are the other two construction elements of which this fortress is composed. 

Access to the fortress was through a single gate located on the north wall, which was protected on the outside by a barbican. The gateway, which is approximately 1.50 m high, has lost its outer and inner arches and the only evidence of this is the inner brick vault. The gateway led to the parade ground, inside which there were several buildings and a well for the water supply located in the centre of the enclosure.

The towers were accessed from the upper part of the crenellated walls via the walkway. Of the four towers that the castle originally had, only two, the southern towers, still have their 12-metre-high elevations. Both towers have a solid base and one or two chambers at the top, at the height of the parapet. The southeast tower is square in plan (4.86 m x 4.65 m) and is built with masonry walls and ashlars at the corners, with a single chamber covered by a vaulted vault on pendentives. The southwest tower is also almost square in plan (5.00 m x 5.20 m) and consists of two superimposed chambers; the lower one is at the height of the parapet, where the vault is completely destroyed, only the rubble filling being preserved, and the upper one is identical to that of the southeast tower.

DAZA PASTRANA, F. Intervención arqueológica puntual. Seguimiento arqueológico de demoliciones y control de movimientos de tierras en el Castillo de La Puebla de los Infantes (Sevilla). Anuario Arqueológico de Andalucía. 2010.

TORIBIO GARCÍA, J. J. El Castillo de la Puebla de los Infantes (Sevilla). Estudio Histórico-Artístico. Arte, Arqueología e Historia. 15. 2008.