Castillo de Ambra

Monuments

How P. Guichard affirms the castle of Ambra is one of the many Islamic castles of the Valencian territory that served as places of habitat and / or refuge in charge of the rural communities, with a non-feudal character and that were object of transformation and destruction after of the conquest. Old historians dated the construction of the castle between the 9th and 11th centuries, but the latest research and archaeological excavations date back to the early 13th century. The rubble of the castle rises on a rocky ridge formed by the northern buttresses of the Sierra de Mediodía, delimiting the Pego valley to the south. It rises to a height of 264 m above sea level and its construction is perfectly adapted to the rugged and rocky orography of the Ambra mountain. The castle did not participate actively in the conquest, but it did have importance in the subsequent Mudejar revolts capitanejades for el-Azraq. The year 1268 the castle was consigned to Arnau de Romero, Jaume I ordered that in the castle there should remain an atzembla and ten men. A year later he passed to Bonanat de Guía, who had it for a short time, passing 1260 to Pere de Berbegal, arxiprest of Daroca, guarding him with four men, to whom the king paid 150 salaries annually. In 1264 he passed the castle to Ade de Paterna for the debt that the child in Pere contracted with him. Charged the debt, the king gave in credit the castle to P. de Capellades. The 1271 passed in the hands, in the same circumstances, to Pere de Marcén. Finally, after being in the Saracens' mansion for three years, from 1276 the castle began to lose its military importance. It finished to lose its importance completely the castle when from 1280 it was begun to create the new town of Pego. After the second letter of settlement (1286) granted with better conditions than the first (1279), settlers from Barcelona begin to arrive that they are going to establish in a new walled town that has to be built on the old Uxola alqueria. The castle of Ambra is a late Islamic construction, that according to Javier Martí, begins towards the beginning of the XIII century, product of the fear of the Muslims before the threat of feudal conquest. What most relies on this statement is the lack of durability that the castle had (1220-1280). But the truth is, that the last excavations have not brought to light any remains previous to the chronology pointed. Established the chronology and durability of the castle, another of the important aspects is to know if it was inhabited or not, that is, if it served only as a military refuge or if there were rooms inside it. Approximately twenty houses existed with a staggered arrangement and taking advantage of the natural structure of the rock. The houses were of reduced dimensions and the work of mortar lime and limestone stonework of irregular size. They also had to have wood, although it was probably used later for the houses of the new village, since in the excavations no remains of this material were found. The remains of the wall of the enclosure show us the value of defensive architecture; the walls made of rammed earth, the foundations of Freemasonry and four cubes (towers) of rectangular plan in ixent reinforcing the wall. To the Southeast of the same one is the door of access to the enclosure, between the avantmural and the wall of the castle. The access consists of two doors arranged longitudinally interspersed between them a guardhouse. This body of guard allowed to make the guaita between the two doors during the night, as well as the rest of the walkers in their access to the castle. In the same bank of guard we can observe what could be a curious medieval game composed of eight holes in which one would have to face stones of different tamanys. In the excavations of the project "Transformations of the structure of medieval settlement in the lands of Marina", we also found in the door 5 bronze money from the reign of Jaume I (1238-1276). Inside the enclosure, next to the second tower of the wall a cistern or cistern of rectangular plant (12 x 3 m) realized in tapial that served to collect the water of the rains is emplaced. An avantmural or barbican closes the wall mural enclosure, also made in tapial although lower than the interior wall. It is endowed with an income in replec and three false cubes that adapt to the layout of the towers and the wall. Although the castle is in relatively good condition, the intense task of abancalament and the erosive action of atmospheric agents have severely punished the constructions.