Sauquillo de Cabezas: Culture, Crafts and Nature

Sauquillo de Cabezas offers a range of themes to shape your travel plans: Romanesque architecture, bobbin lace-making, festive traditions and landscape. The following places and traditions give you specific points of reference for exploring these aspects of your stay.

Churches and historic buildings

The Church of San Pedro Apóstol has Romanesque origins. Bricked-up arches and a holy water font reveal its origins. Its floor plan is shaped like a Latin cross; it also has a central nave and houses a collection of silverwork. The Chapel of Cristo de la Salud contains an image from the school of Gregorio Fernández, a sculptor from Valladolid.

The surviving parts of two palaces also shape the picture of the town’s history. Only a Gothic façade remains of the Palacio del Marqués de Casablanca; the building is privately owned. Only the portal remains of the Palacio de los Cáceres, and this palace is also privately owned. The town’s traditional houses show another side of its architectural history: people and animals lived under the same roof.

Bobbin lace-making and local customs

In bobbin lace-making, threads are interwoven using bobbins, known as bolillos. The work is secured with pins to a padded pillow called a mundillo; a pricked pattern known as a picado serves as a guide. At the Encuentro de Encajeras, participants demonstrate how they make bobbin lace. There are also sales outlets for finished bobbin lace pieces, as well as a mercadillo. The gathering takes place at the end of June at the Frontón Municipal. If you would like to plan your trip around it, check the exact date in advance.

Annual festivals

San Pedro is the town’s main festival and is celebrated on the last weekend of August. The traditional games Chito for men and Bolos for women are also played during the town festivals. The festival in honour of Saint Anthony of Padua takes place on 13 June and includes a pilgrimage. Beforehand, the right to carry the poles at the saint’s entrance and as he is carried up to the throne is auctioned. San Isidro is celebrated on 15 May. For festivals, it is advisable to confirm the programme locally.

Paths and landscape

Cañada Larga, also known as Camino del Arroyo, is a poplar-lined walking path with benches that leads to Poza Rubia. The path thus provides a direct link between a walk and this destination. A forest of resin pines stretches between Sauquillo de Cabezas and Turégano. It includes individual trees measuring more than 1.5 metres in diameter and several metres in height.

Laguna del Terrero lies beside the road. Traditionally, the young women of the town washed their laundry at its spring.

A glimpse of the wider area

The archaeological site of Santa Lucía lies near Aguilafuente, in the surrounding area between Aguilafuente and Sauquillo de Cabezas. It contains a Late Roman villa that flourished around the 4th century. It may have remained in use well into the 5th century. These archaeological traces add an older historical layer to the town’s architectural history and longstanding traditions.

Discover more destinations: Los Huertos, Martín Muñoz De Las Posadas, Sanchonuño, Zarzuela del Pinar, La Granja De San Ildefonso, Lastras del Pozo, Riaza, Fuenterrebollo.

For an overview of the wider region: Segovia.