Castelldefels Castle (; ) is a frontier fortress in the town of Castelldefels, near Barcelona in Spain, that was built to defend the frontier of the Carolingian Empire against neighbouring Muslim territories, particularly the Caliphate of Córdoba. The fortress was first recorded in the 10th century, as was the former parish church of St. Mary, contained within its outer wall.
The castle occupies a hilltop to the northeast of the modern town centre and the castle complex includes the castle keep, a church, associated outbuildings, and a cemetery, all contained within a curtain wall. The hill was first occupied in ancient times and archaeologists have excavated remains of a Laietani settlement dating from the 3rd to the 1st century BC, and a Roman villa dating from the 1st to the 6th century AD. The castle was first recorded in AD 967, and by the 14th century a fortified house existed with a strong curtain wall. The church was also fortified in the 14th century. The castle as it stands today was largely built in the 16th century as a response to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
The castle had largely fallen into ruin by the second half of the 19th century, although the church continued in use as the local parish church. In 1893 a notorious murder took place in the rectory when a young baker broke in and murdered the parish priest and his niece. The murderer was soon caught, and was executed outside the castle walls in 1895. Soon afterwards the castle was purchased by a wealthy Barcelonan banker, who refurbished it and added decorative crenellations throughout. In the early 20th century the parish church was moved to its current location and the castle church was refurbished as a family chapel. The castle again achieved notoriety during the Spanish Civil War when the International Brigades used it as a disciplinary prison camp, with resulting executions and torture.
Location
The castle stands upon a high hill to the northeast of the town centre, occupying a prominent position overlooking the coast. The hill has a number of artificial terraces on its eastern and southern sides, and its summit is covered with vegetation.
Description
The castle consists of a fortress dominated by a high, circular tower. It possesses a number of smaller towers of a variety of types, and the complex includes a church, and residential buildings on the western side. The southern portion of the castle bailey is occupied by the partially fortified church and its associated outbuildings, including the rectory and vestry, and a cemetery. The castle keep, actually consisting of two main buildings, is on the west side. The eastern portion of the keep is built from red sandstone, quarried in Begues. The western portion is bulkier and has plaster-coated masonry, giving it a beige colour.
The entire complex of buildings, incorporating both the keep and the church and their associated outbuildings, is contained within a fortified enclosure, the wall of which has been modified throughout the castle's history. The outer gate of the castle is at the northern extreme of the bailey; it is decorative in nature and was built in 1897.
History
Archaeological reconnaissance of the hillside below the castle revealed abundant ancient remains, leading to the conclusion that the hill supported an ancient Iberian settlement and a later Roman villa. The Iberian settlement, inhabited by the Laietani, has been dated from the middle of the 3rd century BC to the end of the 1st century BC. The town of the Laietani covered the hilltop and the adjoining southern and eastern flanks. An Iberian water cistern was found carved from the bedrock under the castle's subsoil. A number of Iberian house remains were excavated under the church, although none have been found under the main area of the castle due to later modifications to the land surface, in order to level the courtyard in the middle of the 16th century.
Roman occupation
The Roman villa has been dated from the 1st century BC to the 6th century AD. The discovery of a 2nd-century funerary monument dedicated to Caius Trocina Synecdemus has led the excavator to attribute the ownership of the villa to him. The villa probably fell within the ager of Barcino, and was at the edge of a small port; it was probably used by Trocina Synecdemus to fund his public office of sevir augustalis (priest of the Imperial cult) in Barcino.