Tejeda Castle

Tejeda Castle lies, in the village by the same name, in the province of Salamanca in Spain.

The ruins of Tejeda Castle are located East of the village, dominating it from a small elevation in the landscape. It was protected by a moat and a barbican of which not much remains at the present.

What remains of the castle itself isn't much but enough to reconstruct its ground plan. It has a square ground plan, with sides of about 23 meters, in one of which the keep was situated. The entrance to the keep, like in other castles, was at the second floor level. The castle walls are of slate rubblework, with granite reinforcements in the corners and equipped with corner towers.

It is a typical example of a stately castle, constructed to dominate the surrounding territory.

In 1452 King Juan II orders Francisco de Medina to hold an inquest on the crimes that several noblemen were committing in towns which fell under the jurisdiction of the city of Salamanca. In 1453 he reported to the king that, amongst others, Fernando de Tejeda had seized the village of Tejeda. This Fernando had depopulated another village to increase the population of 'his' village. Medina also reports that Fernando had started to construct a castle on his own land to govern 'his' village. We therefore have the date and reason for the construction of Tejeda Castle.

Tejeda Castle is a nice small ruin and is not accessible. I crawled under two barbed wired fences to enter the castle grounds which seem to be used to herd cattle. So watch out for bulls!

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