Valdeolea () is a municipality in
Cantabria
Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...
, northern
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. It is located in a hill region crossed by the
Camesa
The Camesa is a river located in the north of Spain, a tributary of the Pisuerga.
It rises in the province of Palencia in the municipio of Brañosera. It runs briefly through the region of Cantabria, where gives its name to a Site of Community ...
river and its numerous affluents.
It is formed by 19 towns and villages: Barriopalacio, Bercedo, Camesa, Castrillo del Haya, Cuena, El Haya, Las Henestrosas de las Quintanillas, Hoyos, La Loma, Mata de Hoz, Mataporquera, Matarrepudio, Olea, La Quintana, Las Quintanillas, Rebolledo, Reinosilla, San Martín de Hoyos and Santa Olalla. Mataporquera is the largest of them, with some 1,000 inhabitants, and also the municipal seat.
The municipal territory is home to eight
menhir
A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...
s, located on the left bank of the Camesa in the Monte Omeda site. It also houses remains from the Roman age and the Middle Ages. Also notable is the
Romanesque churches of ''Santa Eulalia la Toma'' (1176), ''Santa Maria de las Henestrosas de las Quintanilla'' (12th century), and ''Santa Maria'' (at Olea), modified in the 16th-17th centuries.
References
External links
History of Valdeolea
Municipalities in Cantabria
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