Granadilla: A Walled Village Emptied for a Flood That Never Came

Granadilla was founded by the Muslims in the 9th century on a slate hill above the Alagón, a stronghold on the road between the Vía de la Plata and the Hurdes. Ferdinand II of León took it in 1160, walled it and made it a town in 1170; it was called Granada until the fall of the other Granada in 1492, then Granadilla to avoid the confusion. When the Gabriel y Galán reservoir was built it was declared liable to flooding, expropriated in 1960 and emptied of its people — and the water has never reached it, not even with the reservoir full. It was declared a historic site in 1980, and since 1984 it has been in the national programme for bringing abandoned villages back to use.