IberiaNature A guide to the natural history of Spain
By Nick Lloyd - Home - Contact
  

Palomares of Spain

A palomar is a kind of ornate dovecote, and is an essential architectural and landcsape element of the wheatlands of Castille-Leon, as the horreo is to Asturias and Galicia and the Molino to Castilla-La-Mancha. I took this blurry one here is a few miles from Vilafafila in Zamora.. They tend to be associated with wheat fields, which is why they are common in Castilla although there are also found in other parts of Spain- there's a huge one in Barbate, Cádiz (Palomar de la Breña), which housed over 10,000 pigeons. They were clearly all owned by wealthy families, and were generally built of adobe.. Most these days are crumbling into disuse though a few have been renovated. In the past, palomares were a source of meat, eggs and, almost as valuable, pigeon guano for fertiliser and for making gunpowder. (Many thanks to Damian Martin and Ruud van Halewyn at Wild-Spain) .


  Outside links: See Palomares de Palencia

 

 

  

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