Los Torrejones Roman archaeological site in Yecla

This large Roman villa in Los Torrejones oversaw a large agricultural concern in Yecla 2,000 years ago

The archaeological site of Los Torrejones is 3 kilometres south-east of the town of Yecla, in the north of the Region of Murcia, and consists primarily of the remains of a Roman villa which was built in the 1^st century BC and inhabited on and off until the 13^th century AD, when the Kingdom of Murcia was reconquered from the Moors by Christian forces.

It is one of five such villas found in an area of only 4 square kilometres (the others being El Pulpillo, Marisparza, Casa de la Ermita and Fuente del Pinar), indicating the degree to which the cultivation of grapes and olives in Yecla was important to the Romans: these “villas” dealt with the growing of crops and the production of wine and olive oil.

Archaeological digs have established that the site was occupied by the Iberians in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC, long before the Romanization of the Iberian Peninsula, and that the villa was abandoned in the 5^th century AD before being re-occupied and modified by the Moors in the 11^th and 12^th centuries. But in the 13^th century it finally fell into disuse, and over the course of the next 500 years it is thought that the locals removed the stonework and other structural elements to incorporate them into their own farms and dwellings.

The first excavations here date back to 1847, since when the most significant discoveries include a 4^th century mosaic found in 1957 and various stone pools which comprised a thermal bath complex. Fragments of ceramics, marble sculptures and columns have also been unearthed, and on learning of the size of the complex the Town Hall of Yecla acquired the land, protected it from the elements, made it possible to visit and housed the items of interest found in the local archaeological museum.

More recently another significant finding was a very well preserved marble bust of the Emperor Hadrian (2nd century AD), and in 2018 archaeologists were surprised to find a network of underground passages and galleries, which probably served as storage areas for agricultural produce.

All five Roman villas were in charge of large areas of flat, fertile land. They underwent a crisis in the 3^rd century, reached the height of their importance in the 4^th century and survived for long periods of time. Alongside them are the remains of two more buildings which were used as inns, the “Casas de Almansa” and the “Casa de las Cebollas”.

Location: click here for map.

If visiting Yecla don’t forget to make sure one of your first ports of call is the tourist office (Plaza Mayor, 1, telephone 968 754104, email turismo@yecla.es).

For more local events, news and visiting information go to the home page of Yecla Today.