Villavellid Castle

Villavellid Castle lies, in the little village by the same name, in the province of Valladolid in Spain.

The castle is located on a little hill next to the village, on a small undulation of the landscape. By its diposition and characteristics it can be dated to the 15th century and it was probably the residence of a nobleman. Its constructor isn't known, although in 1452 a Don Francisco de Almazán, Marquess of Alcañices, was mentioned as the Lord of the village and the owner of a "strong house".

Its plan is a square with wide walls of ashlar masonry on the outside. The corners are reinforced by cylindrical towers except one which is reinforced by the square keep which is very reduced at the present time. This all makes the castle in everything very similar to Fuente el Sol Castle. The entrance to the courtyard is by a pointed arced gate, located near the keep. The entrance to the keep is on a higher floor level and would have been accessed by means of a, disappeared, movable wooden footbridge. Inside the tower several wooden floors existed. Also traces of lean-to constructions are observed in the walls around the courtyard.

In the 1990s most of one of the sides of the enclosure and a corner tower collapsed. As with similar castles this one could also have had another outer defensive enclosure although there are traces of such an enclosure.

Villavellid Castle is a nice one to see because you can see its foundations and a sort of cut-through view of the walls and courtyard. The fact that the fore mentioned collapse has taken place can have something to do, in my opinion, with the fact that the village garbage dump is located against the foundations of the castle walls. Although it isn't worth the detour on itself, it's located just a few minutes by car, north of Tiedra Castle.

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