THE NEIGHBOURHOODS
21
HABITANTS
13
ORIGEN SEGLE
21
INHABITANTS
13
CENTURY OF ORIGIN
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
Les Ventalles
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
Les Ventalles
Les Ventalles is a village in the municipality of Ulldecona, located in the Montsià region in the south of Catalonia. It is one of the “neighbourhoods” of Ulldecona which lie a short distance from the town. This settlement is located at the foot of the Sierra de las Cantilenas hills, overlooking the road from Ulldecona to Tortosa, a few kilometres from Freginals. Les Ventalles is the oldest settlement in the municipality of Ulldecona, with documentary references dating back to the thirteenth century.
In terms of its urban development, it is very different to the other districts of Ulldecona, as the houses are located close together in the medieval style, on top of a hill with very narrow streets. The church of Sant Joan is located outside the village. The old royal road from Barcelona to Valencia passed by the side of the village. Les Ventalles, a settlement that has grown to a very limited extent throughout its history, has a population of 27 inhabitants.
300
HABITANTS
14
ORIGEN SEGLE
300
INHABITANTS
14
CENTURY OF ORIGIN
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
Els Valentins
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
Els Valentins
Popularly known as “Els Masets”, it is located between the plain of the Foia de Ulldecona and the Ports de Tortosa-Beseit mountains, in the middle of the natural area known as the Secanos del Montsià and a few kilometres from the town of Ulldecona. The inhabitants of several farmhouses in the surrounding area were the inhabitants of the settlement that dates from 1862. Its church was built in honour of saint Anthony of Padua at the end of the nineteenth century. A few years later, water arrived along a canal that was built as a community project by the residents of the village. Its people have engaged in this type of unpaid work on various occasions over the years. The village’s economy is largely based on agriculture and livestock farming, consisting mainly of olive, orange and almond crops, and small family-run livestock farms. It has two oil mills where many farmers in the region take their olives. Its restaurants have a long culinary tradition, with three well-known restaurants and a bar offering traditional local cuisine. Along with the grocery store, there are a number of businesses that have made it an easier and more appealing place to live. Els Valentins has all kinds of services and a wide range of facilities, including a sports track, a civic centre, a bullring, and municipal store, among others. The village’s local festivities, its most highly prized cultural asset, take place just as summer begins, in the second week of June. They are well known throughout the region for their musical events, with orchestras and performances, and for the traditional Running of the bulls.
138
HABITANTS
14
ORIGEN SEGLE
166
INHABITANTS
14
CENTURY OF ORIGIN
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
St. Joan del Pas
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
St. Joan del Pas
Sant Joan del Pas is a village in the municipality of Ulldecona. Its population today is 184 inhabitants, (Spanish National Statistics Institute 2006), many of whom (98) live in scattered dwellings. It is a stone’s throw from the Sénia river, between the edge of the municipality (Ulldecona) and the Sénia, between kilometre points 4 and 5 on the TV-3319 road. Other place names used are simply El Pas or Molí del Pas, as the latter is related to the presence of an old mill of the order of the Knights Hospitaller. Its original settlement seems to be a result of its strategic location near the river. It has been documented since the fourteenth century and can be identified with the Hostalets, an old staging post on the road. The old Via Augusta Roman road ran through Sant Joan del Pas, as did the pre-Roman Via Heraclia road before it. The river can easily be crossed at two places at the two smaller districts that make up the neighbourhood: la Rabal and Els Rajolars. It has the church of Sant Joan Baptista (rebuilt in the eighteenth century and restored in the twentieth century). The village has a doctor’s surgery, a civic centre, a sports area and a cemetery. It has water and sewerage services and a bus stop. Championships of “guinyot”, a card game similar to bezique, take place during the Local Festivities, which are held every year at the end of June.
44
INHABITANTS
20
CENTURY OF ORIGIN
44
HABITANTS
20
ORIGEN SEGLE
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
La Miliana
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
La Miliana
La Miliana is a village in the municipality of Ulldecona, in the south of Catalonia in the Montsià region. It is the smallest of Ulldecona’s “neighbourhoods”. The village is located to the northwest of Ulldecona, in the middle of the plain bounded by the Puertos de Beceite and the Sierra de Godall mountains. The district is surrounded by fields given over to agriculture, and there is a ravine to the south-east. La Miliana is located 8.6 kilometres by road from Ulldecona, or 5.38 kilometres as the crow flies. The village was formerly known as “La Millana”. It was named after a woman whose husband bore the surname of “Millan”. The royal road from Tortosa to Traiguera passes by the village, and many travellers used to stop and spend the night here. It had around 160 inhabitants at the beginning of the twentieth century, and there was a school. There was also an inn for travellers. Many of the registered inhabitants (there were 168 inhabitants in 1910 and 29 in 1960, and the number had fallen to 12 by the 1970 census) only live sporadically in La Miliana, and more than half of the houses are derelict. In comparative terms, it is the district in the municipality of Ulldecona that has lost the most population in recent years, as it had only 28 inhabitants in 2016.
176
HABITANTS
13
ORIGEN SEGLE
176
INHABITANTS
13
CENTURY OF ORIGIN
Terme d'ulldecona
El Barri Castell
TOWN OF ULLDECONA
Barri el Castell
El Castell is a district in the town of Ulldecona, located in the south of Catalonia in the Montsià region. It is one of Ulldecona’s “neighbourhoods”, located about 9 kilometres from the town. This district is located on the plain bounded by the Puertos de Beceite and the Sierra de Godall mountains, near the river Sénia, next to the road that leads to Ulldecona reservoir. It is also located on the left bank of the river Sénia, which is today the boundary between the provinces of Castellón and Tarragona. The village of San Rafael del Rio is on the other side of the river. According to ancient documents (from medieval and later periods) the name of the place dates back to an old flour mill, and was listed as “Molino del Castell” on the river Sénia before being simply referred to as “El Castell”. Before this name, it was called by other names including “Calces”, and hence its inhabitants are known as “calceteros” or “calceteres”. It is a small and relatively modern rural settlement which had 146 inhabitants in 1981. El Castell has had a population of 189 since 2016. The village is laid out around the road from Ulldecona to La Sénia, passing through Sant Juan del Pas and the crossroad that goes to Els Valentins. El Castell district has preserved its old school building.
