Monzón de Campos Castle

Monzón de Campos Castle lies, in the village by the same name, in the province of Palencia in Spain.

In medieval times the village of Monzón was protected by 2 castles because of its importance to the Kingdom of Leon. One of these stood at the site of the present castle. The other castle was built on a small hill next to the village and the Carrión river. This river was eroding this hill which led to the collapse of the hill, thus destroying the castle. At present there is nothing left of that castle, although archaeological excavations have taken place, the results of which can be seen in the British Museum in London and the Sephardic Museum in Toledo. Both these castles were build by Alfonso III, King of Leon, as a defense against the Muslims.

The present castle was built in the 14th century by the Rojas family on the remains of an earlier castle, which was contemporary with the one that disappeared. The keep, made of high quality ashlar masonry, has no openings besides a couple of small arrow slits which gives it a severe appearance.

Build against the keep is an irregular enclosure of lesser quality ashlar masonry but also with almost no openings.

In the 20th century the castle was turned into a hotel. But when I visited the castle, the hotel seemed to be abandoned for quite some time; the red carpet before the entrance had turned gray, all the planting around the car park was dead or overgrown and the windows and doors to a shop and a underground car park had been welded shut. So the castle is not accessible. Too bad because I would have loved to have spent the night there. On the other hand, there would have been no room with a view.

From the castle you have great views of the surrounding Tierra del Campos.

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