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Date Published: 18/01/2022
ARCHIVED - Two students uncover secret palace in Mazarron
A previously unknown 16th-century palace has been discovered near the church of San Andrés, but authorities are not treating it as a protected site yet
The church of San Andrés in Mazarrón, close to the site of the ancient palace ruins
Two scholars in Mazarrón history are claiming that the remains of two walls preserved on a plot of land in Calle de las Torres, in the heart of the old town and just a few metres from the church of San Andrés, could belong to a previously unknown palace from the 16th century.
Academics Juan Martínez Acosta and Juan Sánchez Calventus have stated in a letter addressed to Mazarrón Town Hall and the Regional Ministry of Culture that the ruins are part of an ancient manor house of which there was previously no evidence.
Up until now, the fort-house of the Molinete, which was demolished in the 1970s, was always considered to be the only residence of this noble saga in Mazarrón.
New evidence changes the way we think about the history of Mazarrón
Four pieces of evidence point to the existence of this newly found palace – the architectural characteristics of both walls, which are one metre thick and made from masonry work and brick, “in what could be the remains of a walled tower”. They also point out that the dimensions and materials of the walls would correspond to other defensive structures erected in the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age in Spain.
The most important documentary evidence cited is a purchase deed of part of a building, dated 1809 and kept in the General Archive of the Region, in which express mention is made of the fact that on this site on Calle de las Torres was “the palace of Their Excellencies”, the Villena family, according to the notarial deed.
The content of this document, whose discovery was the result of chance, is the first news we have of this unknown property of the Marquesses, “different to the one that historiographical studies had been pointing out until now”.
Furthermore, in their document they provide a map of the town centre from 1772 – the oldest surviving one – in which “what appears to be a defensive perimeter can be seen and a couple of spaces that could be towers stand out”.
Finally, the researchers posit that the name of the street – Calle de las Torres, or ‘Street of the Towers’ – could be a reference to this unknown defensive construction, but the site also borders the Plaza Ramón y Cajal, which until 1922 was called Plaza de Palacio (‘Palace Square’).
Acosta, who is about to finish his studies in History at the University of Murcia, said that the discovery “confirms an assumption”.
“It didn’t make sense: the distribution of the Villena family’s area of power that has survived to the present day, with their church in the heart of the town centre and their fortress-house so far away”, he said. “These archaeological remains would prove that their church and their residence were close together. And that they also had a bastion on the outskirts”.
This would be similar to what the Fajardo family, Marquises of Los Vélez, did almost at the same time, building a castle and the church of San Antonio right next to each other in the centre of Mazarrón, and which are still standing to this day.
Although the letter was presented on December 14 2021, so far no action has been taken to protect the remains. The Councillor for Culture, Ginés Campillo, explains that he will commission a report before deciding whether to order an excavation to shed light on the discovery.
Image: Archive
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