Matilla of the Caños del Río

Matilla de los Caños del Río is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated within the region of Campo de Salamanca (Campo Charro). It belongs to the judicial district of Salamanca.

Its municipal area is made up of the towns of Canillas de Torneros, Carrascal de Sanchiricones, Linejo, Matas Altas, Matilla de los Caños del Río, Ochando and Pocito, as well as the unpopulated areas of Campo del Hospicio, Carrascalino and El Cueto, occupies a total area of 69.29 km² and according to the demographic data collected by the INE in 2017, it has a population of 640 inhabitants.

History

Details of the map "Spain and Portugal" by John Betts in 1838, in which you can appreciate Matilla.

The first vestige of life in the area must be located around the fourth millennium BC, a period in which scholars include the construction of funerary megalithic monuments called dolmens, such as the one found on the Linejo farm, from which successive campaigns Archaeological recovered diverse and important materials.

Regarding the current town, it should be noted that it was founded in the XIV century, being framed in the Quarto de Baths of the jurisdiction of Salamanca, within the Kingdom of León.

There are remains of a castle erected at the top of the hillside where the town sits, whose perimeter was ordered to be destroyed in 1505 by the Catholic king Don Fernando, and its perimeter can still be traced. Later, with the creation of the current provinces in 1833, Matilla was framed in the province of Salamanca, within the Leonese Region.

During the Spanish Civil War, the San Fernando aerodrome was operational in the northwest of the municipal area, in the area of Campo del Hospicio, which served the rebel side and was abandoned once the war ended.

In 1943, the Provincial Council overwhelmingly elected its mayor Alipio Pérez-Tabernero y Sanchón for the position of attorney in Cortes in the I Legislature of the Spanish Cortes (1943-1946), representing the municipalities of this province.

Demographics

Graphic of demographic evolution of Matilla de los Caños del Río between 1900 and 2021

Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute - Graphical development by Wikipedia.

Population centers

The municipality is divided into several population centers, which had the following population in 2015 according to the INE.

Culture

The local festivities are on Carnival Monday, in which they usually celebrate the fifths, the typical meal of lemons, on Carnival Tuesday, among other activities. On the day of Santiago Apóstol, the patron saint of the town is celebrated, in which its most outstanding activities are the popular capea, paella food for the whole town, games for children and adults and fireworks accompanied by festivals.

Monuments and places of interest

Urban core.

In the center of the town is the parish church, restored and reformed on several occasions, whose patron saint is Santiago Apóstol, in which there are two works by the renowned and laureate sculptor, son of the town, Venancio Blanco, representing San Isidro Labrador (1944) and Santa Águeda (1990).

The building of the old schools was restored by the students of the C.R.A. Los Carrascales and dedicated to the school museum. On the façade you can see very varied drawings that were painted by students. In the museum you can see what the old schools were like. The painter and sculptor, Venancio Blanco, studied in them, and in homage to him the museum was named after him. In it there are books and material that were from former students of the town, the class is decorated with photos of students from the town and some maps.

About 6km from the urban center is the Ermita del Cueto, open on Sundays and holidays during mass from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the hermitage of the Virgen del Cueto is, in addition to a spiritual center of great devotion in the province, the most important artistic-religious heritage in the area. The Virgin Mary appeared to some shepherds in an oak, on which the Hermitage was built. It is accessed by the new Salamanca road, turning off at Canillas de Torneros, following about 3 km along a dirt road, reaching the promontory where the hermitage is located, from which excellent landscapes can be seen and the aromas of the charro countryside can be breathed. The hermitage is located inside the enclosure of the bullring around an old black man. To the left of the hermitage, there is a humble porticoed house with a continuous balcony, a refuge for hermits and friars, it forms a charming corner that, due to its simplicity, immediately captures the attention, if we look at the columns we can see that one is a Roman milestone, probably brought from the silver road. The set of the work is from the 17th century, although the dressing room of the Virgin corresponds to the 18th century. The interior has three altarpieces, one main and two lateral ones, separated from the rest of the hermitage by a beautiful gate forged in 1830, endowed, all with excellent decoration in the purest Rococo style of the time, the two cherubs that, seated, are spectacular. plumb over the two central columns, surprising for their strength, movement and realism, as well as the stone carving on the outside of the Camarín chapel. At the end of the nave, in the choir, a polychrome stucco represents a scene from the life of San Isidro Labrador.

Administration and politics

Municipal elections

Illustrious people

Venancio Blanco, sculptor.