Parque Urbano del Río Tarafa

Parks and Nature

Throughout history, a varied and suggestive archaeological and monumental heritage has been created along the Tarafa River, the most significant samples of which are distributed along the stretch of channel between the Hondo de las Fuentes and the Minera de Barrenas. They are just 3 kilometers in which they are counted, as if it were an open-air museum, the results of the many efforts that our ancestors had to make to take advantage of the last drop of Tarafa water. In the territory where we find the Tarafa river, of semi-arid nature, the presence of water courses of a temporary or permanent nature has an important effect on the landscape, since in these enclaves we find deep and humid soils that allow the development of exuberant plant formations like the olmedas and alamedas. The use of its springs favored the existence of three irrigated orchards, at least since the Middle Ages: Aljau, Fauquí and Huerta Mayor. To this period we owe the planning and construction of the hydraulic systems necessary to collect and distribute the water for the existing lands on both sides of the channel. To this end, small catchments were built that retained these waters, elevated them and diverted them, taking them through an extensive network of ditches several kilometers away. This activity has left an imprint on the land that still lasts, and that we can still contemplate when we walk along the river and its surroundings. We will find the remains of these dams, ditches and up to three aqueducts mark this patrimonial route along the urban park of the Tarafa River. The first of them, the Iron Channel, a magnificent example of iron architecture built in 1890. Or the aqueduct of Perceval, rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century with a solid architecture and perfectly integrated into its environment. And the last one, the one in the Acequia de la Huerta Mayor, built in the 19th century. Walking along the river we will discover drainage galleries dug in its bed to favor the water coming out of the springs, like those of the rafica or the Mine of Barrenas. Also remains of laundries such as the Hondo de las Fuentes or the house of the Rafica; or ruins of mills such as Mindán, built in 1844, which tell us about traditional activities that have already disappeared. And we will pass under the bridge of the Bath, reconstructed in 1850 next to a low medieval castle, that of the Aljau.