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article_detail
Date Published: 22/04/2021
ARCHIVED - Xabia plans to restore historic Castillo de la Granadella
The defensive building was built in 1739 and later destroyed in around 1812
The Town Hall of Xábia( Xávia/Javea), located in the Marina Alta comarca, has presented a consolidation project, with an estimated cost of around 280,000 euros, to restore and consolidate the Castillo de la Granadella fortification.
In addition to the consolidation of the remains of the castle, the project also plans to restore the annexed water tank and improve the surrounding landscape as well as improve the access link to the castle, conserving the remains before they deteriorate further and also creating a site of visitor interest for both residents and visitors.
The large budget needed for the plan is mostly due to the the improvements required to the exisiting access to the castle, making it expensive to transport building materials to the site.
This defensive building was built in 1739, following military architectural styles typical of the time, with a floor plan of about 140 square metres in the shape of a horseshoe. The castle also had a curved wall facing east and a straight wall facing west, where the entrance to the fortification was located.
The structure was rendered ineffective by mines and gunpowder during the Peninsular Wars which formed part of the Napoleonic wars in 1812 when the forces of Napoleon swept across this area of Spain wreaking havoc and destroying towns and villages as they passed through.
The war began when the French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 by transiting through Spain, and it escalated in 1808 after Napoleonic France had occupied Spain, which had been its ally.
Napoleon Bonaparte forced the abdications of Ferdinand VII and his father Charles IV and then installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne. Most Spaniards rejected French rule and fought a bloody war to oust them. The war on the peninsula lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and the castle was destroyed during this period.
Wikipedia says about this situation: " The French occupation destroyed the Spanish administration, which fragmented into quarrelling provincial juntas. A reconstituted national government, the Cortes of Cádiz—in effect a government-in-exile—fortified itself in the secure port of Cádiz in 1810, but could not raise effective armies because it was besieged by 70,000 French troops. British and Portuguese forces eventually secured Portugal, using it as a safe position from which to launch campaigns against the French army and provide whatever supplies they could get to the Spanish, while the Spanish armies and guerrillas tied down vast numbers of Napoleon's troops.These combined regular and irregular allied forces, by restricting French control of territory, prevented Napoleon's marshals from subduing the rebellious Spanish provinces, and the war continued through years of stalemate.The British Army, under then Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the 1st Duke of Wellington, guarded Portugal and campaigned against the French in Spain alongside the reformed Portuguese army. The demoralized Portuguese army was reorganized and refitted under the command of Gen. William Beresford, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Portuguese forces by the exiled Portuguese royal family, and fought as part of the combined Anglo-Portuguese Army under Wellesley.
In 1812, when Napoleon set out with a massive army on what proved to be a disastrous French invasion of Russia, a combined allied army under Wellesley pushed into Spain, defeating the French at Salamanca and taking the capital Madrid. In the following year Wellesley scored a decisive victory over King Joseph Bonaparte's army in the Battle of Vitoria. Pursued by the armies of Britain, Spain and Portugal, Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult, no longer getting sufficient support from a depleted France, led the exhausted and demoralized French forces in a fighting withdrawal across the Pyrenees during the winter of 1813–1814.
In 1812, when Napoleon set out with a massive army on what proved to be a disastrous French invasion of Russia, a combined allied army under Wellesley pushed into Spain, defeating the French at Salamanca and taking the capital Madrid. In the following year Wellesley scored a decisive victory over King Joseph Bonaparte's army in the Battle of Vitoria. Pursued by the armies of Britain, Spain and Portugal, Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult, no longer getting sufficient support from a depleted France, led the exhausted and demoralized French forces in a fighting withdrawal across the Pyrenees during the winter of 1813–1814.
The Castillo de la Granadella was declared an Item of Cultural Interest in 1996 and efforts to restore the structure first started in 1987.
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