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Last modified: 2018-10-06 by ivan sache
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Flag of Torrecaballeros - Image by Ivan Sache, 7 August 2018
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The municipality of Torrecaballeros (1,366 inhabitants in 2016, 4,214 ha; municipal website) is located 10 km from Segovia. The municipality is made of the villages of Torrecaballeros (1,101 inh.), La Aldehuela (204 inh.), Cabanillas del Monte (57 inh.) and El Caserío de La Torre (4 inh.).
Torrecaballeros was known in the Middle Ages as Oter de Cavalleros, that
is the Knights' (Caballeros) Hill (Otero). A small garrison was
stationed here in the 11th-12th centuries to watch Malangosto Pass and
prevent Muslim raids. Until the 18th century, Torrecaballeros and the
neighboring villages contributed to the funding of the Segovia garrison,
probably a reminiscence of their military past. Mentioned in the 16th
century as Tor de Caballeros, the village took its definitive name in 1759.
In 1273, King Alfonso X reorganized sheep-breeding, then the main source
of income in Castile through the production of wool, and developed royal
transhumance roads. Torrecaballeros was crossed by the Western Soria Transhumance Road. The herds arrived in the region,
which is rich in pastures and freshwater, at the shearing period. This
prompted the establishment of wealthy shearing ranches. The Company of
Jesus owned such a ranch in Torrecaballeros, where 42,000 sheep were
sheared every year, while the Herrera Silva family owned another one in
Cabanillas, where 15,500 sheep were sheared every year.
The Cabanillas shearing ranch, rebuilt in 1762, belonged to the wealthy
Peñalosa family. The best preserved shearing ranch of that kind in the
Province of Segovia, it was registered as of Cultural Interest in 1997.
El Caserío de La Torre (Tower's Hamlet) was one of the biggest ranches
in the province (2,254 ha), housing more than 30 people and equipped
with a water mill and a chapel. The estate was named for an old tower
once located near San Medel Canal.
Ivan Sache, 7 August 2018
The flag and arms of Torrecaballeros were approved on 10 July 2018 by
the Municipal Council. The memoir supporting the proposed symbol was
redacted by Alfonso de Ceballos-Escalera y Gila, Chronicler of Arms of Castilla y León. The symbols had to be designed from scratch since no
reference to any historical symbol was available.
The legal text prescribing the symbols and, hopefully, giving their
official description, has yet to be published in the official gazette of
Castilla y León.
The flag is white with five blue wavy stripes and the municipal coat of
arms in the center. The stripes represent the irrigation canals that
fostered the development of the village.
The coat of arms is "Purpure a tower argent masoned port and windows
sable on a mount proper charged with a sheep argent surrounded by two
swords argent hilted or pointing downwards a base fessy wavy azure and
argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown."
[Radio Segovia, 10 July 2018;
Memoir, municipal website]
Ivan Sache, 7 August 2018
