Lillo is a municipality and spanish locality in the province of

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

, in the autonomous community of Castilla la-mancha. The municipality has a population of 2493 inhabitants (INE 2024).

Toponymy

The name of "Lillo" could derive from the

latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word "liliv", which means

lilium ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world ...

Nature

Flora and fauna

The most characteristic flora is represented, in addition to the poplar,

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

scrub oak Scrub oak is a common name for several species of small, shrubby oaks. It may refer to: *the Chaparral plant community in California, or to one of the following species. In California *California scrub oak ('' Quercus berberidifolia''), a widesp ...

and broom, by the salicor and

esparto grass Esparto, halfah grass, or esparto grass is a fiber produced from two species of perennial grasses of north Africa, Spain and Portugal. It is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry, and espadrilles. '' Stipa tenacissima'' and '' Lygeum spartu ...

. There are several

endorheic An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

and salt lagoons that have been declared Nature Reserves and boast characteristic flora, including the Moorish sedge or almorchín, endangered species in the region. Also recognizable are the

Lygeum spartum ''Lygeum'' is a genus of Mediterranean plants in the grass family. It is placed in its own tribe Lygeeae, which is sister to Nardeae. The only known species is ''Lygeum spartum'', commonly called esparto grass, cord grass or albardine, whic ...

rock formations, whose conservation is of priority interest because they contain plants listed in the Regional Catalogue of Endangered Species. The rock formation located between El Longar lagoon and the town of Lillo is considered one of the best-preserved and largest rock formations in the entire province of Toledo. Particularly notable are the

Lepidium ''Lepidium'' is a genus of plants in the mustard/cabbage family, Brassicaceae. The genus is widely distributed in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia.Limonium ''Limonium'' is a genus of about 600 flowering plant species. Members are also known as sea-lavender, statice, caspia or marsh-rosemary. Despite their common names, species are not related to the lavenders or to rosemary. They are instead in Plu ...

costae species. The land fauna is represented by rabbits and hares and the occasional, although rare, fox. The most typical birds are the

red-legged partridge The red-legged partridge (''Alectoris rufa'') is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is sometimes known as French partridge, to distinguish it from the English or grey partridge. The ge ...

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

, turtle dove, wood pigeon and

pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

. Among the birds of prey are the lesser kestrel and Montagu's harrier. The lagoons, in addition to being declared a Nature Reserve, are also included in the Site of Community Importance "Wetlands of La Mancha" and the Special Protection Area for Birds (

SPA A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

) "wetlands of La Mancha". The main faunal value is the aquatic birds:

stilt Stilt is a common name for several species of birds in the family Recurvirostridae, which also includes those known as avocets. They are found in brackish or saline wetlands in warm or hot climates. They have extremely long legs, hence the grou ...

black-winged stilt The black-winged stilt (''Himantopus himantopus'') is a widely distributed, very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family Recurvirostridae. Its scientific name, ''Himantopus himantopus'', is sometimes used to generalize a single, almost ...

avocet The four species of avocets are a genus, ''Recurvirostra'', of waders in the same avian family as the stilts. The genus name comes from Latin , 'curved backwards' and , 'bill'. The common name is thought to derive from the Italian ( Ferrarese) ...

common crane The common crane (''Grus grus''), also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the crane (bird), cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane (''Grus virgo'') an ...

Kentish plover The Kentish plover (''Anarhynchus alexandrinus'') is a small wader () of the family Charadriidae that breeds on the shores of saline lakes, lagoons, and coasts, populating sand dunes, marshes, semi-arid desert, and tundra.Székely, T., A. Argüel ...

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (Family (biology), family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, ...

, white-headed shelduck,

red-crested pochard The red-crested pochard (''Netta rufina'') is a large diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek ''Netta'' "duck", and Latin ''rufina'', "golden-red" (from ''rufus'', "ruddy"). Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and lakes in so ...

, as well as marsh harriers. Part of the municipality of Lillo is also included in the SPA of the Steppe Area of North La-Mancha, where the presence of

great bustard The great bustard (''Otis tarda'') is a bird in the bustard family, and the only living member of the genus ''Otis (bird), Otis''. It breeds in open grasslands and farmland from northern Morocco, South Europe, South and Central Europe to temperat ...

colonies is particularly noteworthy.

Geology

This section describes the most important characteristics of the existing formations, as well as the hydrogeological behavior of the materials. The data were obtained from sheet 659 of the Geological Map of Spain from the

Geological and Mining Institute of Spain The Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Instituto Geológico y Minero de España'') is a research institute located in Madrid, Spain. It is run under the auspices of the Ministry of Science (Spain), Ministry of S ...

. The geomorphological features correspond to those of a plain that forms part of the southern edge of the Ocaña Mesa. The gentle topography is caused by

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

and

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

, the Continental Tertiary appears subject to lateral facies variations, from east to west. Tertiary deposition begins with Vindobonian clayey and evaporite series that end with the Pontian calcareous sections. Quaternary materials are well represented by the lagoonal gypsum clay-silt formations of Lillo and hillside debris surrounding the Paleozoic quartzite outcrops.

History

There were found archeological remains which are dated of the Roman period. During the spanish middle-age it belonged to the

Crown of Castille The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accessio ...

, and later to the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

, and later, to the archibisop of Toledo. Administratively it belonged to La Guardia municipality until 1430, year on which it received the title of Ville in order of the prelate of Toledo

Juan Martínez Contreras ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philippi ...

. Pedro López de Ayala, fourth count of Fuensalida, bought the municipality in 1584. The village received a wall in any moment of its history, but nowadays only remains a small piece of it on the urban layout, which demonstrates how it used to defend the Calle Ancha, the Calle del Convento and the Calle del Sol. The best example of this remain is shown in the Puerta de la Guardia, as it says in spanish, in one of the oldest entries to the village. During the XIX century, Lillo had 586 houses and the municipality budget was of about 33000 reales, of which 5500 were to paid the secretary. In 1885 Lillo was hit by a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemy.

Demography

It has a population of 2493 inhabitants, according to th
INE
of 2024.

Administration

Notable people

B

* Lorenzo Balbo

G

* Venancio González y Fernández * Alfonso González Lozano

M

* Elvira Moragas Cantarero

O

* Calixto Ortega (recorder)

References

Municipalities in the Province of Toledo {{CastileLaMancha-geo-stub