Last modified: 2016-06-04 by ivan sache
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The municipality of El Vellón (1,814 inhabitants in 2014; 3,414 ha; municipal website) is located in the north-east of the Community of Madrid, on the border with Castilla-La Mancha (Province of Guadalajara), 50 km of Madrid. The municipality is made of the two settlements of El Vellón and El Espartal, located 5 km east of El Vellón.
El Vellón was established by the Moors in the 9th century, as evidenced by the ruined watch tower (atalaya, photo) and some medieval sources. The village, lit. The Fleece, must have been specialized in the handling of sheep wool. Some historians believe that the village was named for the coins of the same name, made of a mix of silver and copper, used at the time. Once part of Talamanca, El Vellón was granted the status of villa in the 16th century.
The Cave of the Moorish Woman is named for a local legend featuring a beautiful Moorish woman who lived therein, getting out every morning on the Moorish Balcony to comb her golden hair with a golden comb. Once spotted by a shepherd, the woman asked him whether he preferred the comb or the women who used it. The shepherd answered he preferred the comb; upset, the women went back into the cave and never went out again.
Ivan Sache, 3 August 2015
The flag (photos,
photo) and arms of El Vellón are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 13 February 1992 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 17 March 1992 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 65, pp. 12-13 (text), and on 5 May 1992 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 108, p. 15,237 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, made of two equal horizontal stripes, the upper, red, and the lower, green, charged in the center with a white atalaya.
Coat of arms: Gules a hill vert ensigned with an atalaya argent port and windows gules a sheep argent. A bordure argent charged with a wattle vert. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.
Ivan Sache, 3 August 2015