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Castaño de Robledo (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Castaño de Robledo - Image from the Símbolos de Huelva website, 20 August 2016

Presentation of Castaño de Robledo
Symbols of Castaño de Robledo

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Presentation of Castaño de Robledo

The municipality of Castaño de Robledo (211 inhabitants in 2015; 1,300 ha; municipal website) is located 100 km north-east of Huelva.

Castaño de Robledo was founded, according to the tradition, in 1554 by five inhabitants of Aracena. Progressively, the villagers cleared the holly oak woods (robledal) and planted chestnuts (castaños), The historian Javier Pérez Embid reports that in 1700 the 50 villagers of Robledo complained about the charges imposed by Aracena. Diego Felipe de Guzmán, lord of Aracena, granted the status of villa to Robledo on 27 March 1700. The population of the village peaked at 1,295 inhabitants in 1877.

Ivan Sache, 20 August 2016

Symbols of Castaño de Robledo

The flag and arms of Castaño de Robledo, adopted on 12 March 1996 by the Municipal Council and, again, on 13 November 1996 after rejection on 17 October 1996 by the Royal Academy of Córdoba, are prescribed by Decree No. 190, adopted on 29 September 1998 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 24 October 1998 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 121, pp. 13,060-13,061 (text). This was confirmed by a Resolution adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

: Rectangular, in proportions 11 x 18. A green panel with a yellow border, charged in the middle with the local coat of arms.
Coat of arms: Or a chestnut tree proper on a base vert. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The symbols were proposed on 13 October 1995 by Juan José Antequera.

The Preamble of the Decree includes details on the registration process.
The Royal Academy found the proposed arms acceptable, but rejected them because of the lack of bibliographical, archivistic and documentary references; moreover, there was no justification that such a simple and beautiful composition could not be mistaken for the arms of another municipality. The very same designs were resubmitted by the municipality. No bibliographical source was quoted because of their irrelevance. A document dated 1872 shows a seal featuring a chestnut tree and the pennant of the Town Hall, which reproduces the seal. The chestnut tree makes the arms canting; it has been used on the arms for more than a century. Being the most abundant tree in the area, it is a main source of income for the municipality, and, last but not least, today restricted to a small area of the Huelva mountains. The resubmission was forwarded on 23 January 1998 to the Royal Academy, which failed to assess it in legal due time (two months after submission).

Ivan Sache, 20 August 2016