Riudecols

A village located in a mountainous land in the middle of the Sierra de Puig and Puigarí. In addition to the town of Riudecols there are also Les Irles and Les Voltes. The church of Sant Pere is the most notable building.

 

History

There are archaeological remains from before the area was inhabited, from the Middle Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. According to the scholar Manuel de Montoliu, the origin of the name of the people came from "riu of còdols" (River cobble). In 1158 there is mention of the village in the Alforja charter, issued by Guillem de Torroja. Without any announcement of its repopulation, is known there was a battle, in 1235, of Pere dels Arcs, since the Lord of Riudecols refused to recognise the direct control dels Arcs. It depended of the archbishop Pere d'Albalat acquisition of Bonrepòs Abbey, and part of the barony of Alforja archbishop. Riudecols also was part of the Commune of the Camp from 1558 and until at least 1710.

Some men of the town rose against the liberal regime in 1822. In 1849 Madoz says there was a prison, schools and a castle of which nothing remains, which probably was lost in a Carlist fight. In 1946 he created the Agricultural Cooperative.

 

Places of interest

The church

The most notable building is the parish church of Sant Pere, 1872, from which depended Les Voltes and Les Irles. It is located in the middle of town and has a nave with connecting chapels. The area encompasses Els Banys, Les Voltes and Les Irles. The hermitage of Saint Bartholomew was demolished during the First Carlist War, and there are the remains of an ancient Moorish watchtower, on the way to Roques.

Les Irles

Located west of Riudecols. Passing the road towards the Col de la Teixeta, to the left, it offers a remarkably conserved rural settlement. The village is a small cluster of houses located in the centre of a small valley. Part of the noble land of Els Arcs, acquired in 1243 by Pere d'Albalat on the monastery of Bonrepos, with which the barony belonged to the archbishop of Alforja. His parish was originally that of Saint Bartholomew from Tascals de Quadra, which is why the neighbours opposed to Les Borges had a parish of their own.

It grew to 132 inhabitants in 1844 with few changes until 1897, when there were 118 people. In 1847 the church already had crops and livestock. Throughout the twentieth century the population decreased, and with a significant decline between 1939 and 1940, the town was absorbed by Riudecols.

Les Voltes

1km away to the east of Riudecols, it was part of the former lordship of Els Arcs, acquired in 1243 by the Archbishop in Bonrepòs Pere d'Alba. It had the parish church of Saint Bartholomew the Tascals Quadra. In 1378 there were 10 home, 11 in 1553, and for the first time it participated directly in the Commune in 1558. In 1787 it still had no church of its own, as part of Riudecols, but a representative of the Inquisition lived there. According to Madoz, by 1850, Les Voltes was part of the municipality of Alforja. It already had the Concepción church, with chapels in the buttresses, possibly from the late eighteenth century.

In the eighteenth century it had different houses with stone portals in the only street of the village.