A brief history of La Serranía Region

Before Roman occupation is difficult to admit a territorial organization of area. Nevertheless, it can be distinguished one type of organization since the Iberian civilization, which is becoming sedentary. The structure was based on a group of cities. Two Iberian tribes settled on the Serranía lands. One of these tribes was the so-called: Edetanos, which city was next to the curret Llíria, in San Miguel hill. However, the most part of the region was occupied by Olcades, which centre was in Kevin, in the Villares settlement, located in Caudete de las Fuentes.

After the Roman conquest, the Valencian lands were divided in two communities: Tarraconenses and Carthaginensis. The Serranía territory belonged to Tarraconenses. Some municipalities had their origin in this period, such as Altopontis (the current Alpuente), or Chelva.

 The territory was structured by paths, which linked the main towns to the areas of mining and farming development. There was a route from Valencia and Edeta, crossing Villar del Arzobispo and Chelva towards the iron ore mining in Sinarcas and the Cuenca mountains. The Peña Cortá Aqueduct still remains from this period, it is located in Calles, but it also remains ruins of rustic towns, centuriatio (the veteran solder settlement on an farming land).

 Since 8th Century, a new system of territorial organization, with Muslims in charge. After the Caliphate, Alpuente became during some years, (1031-1094), one of the four capitals with Taifa Kingdom (it was the less outstanding). After the Almohad invasion, La Serranía depended on Valencia again.

Posterior to Christian conquest, limits with Valencian Kingdom were fixed, situating them in the border with the Aragon and Castile Kingdoms. Between 1262 and 1271, the Teruel Council pressure caused some hills and parts of the kingdom, as Albentosa, Manzanera, Torrijas, Abejuela and Arcos de las Salinas were ceded to the Aragon Kingdom by Jaume I. The border was established in its current configuration, with the exception of one part of Abejuela. In 15th Century, wars and border clashes took place between Aragon and Castile. The Alpuente and El Poyo castles had a crucial role. In 18th Century, in 1732, Andilla had to cede to Abejuela (Teruel) La Cervera hamlet. The limits of La Serranía with the neighbouring kingdoms present a medieval origin,and justify its adaptation to geographic accidents such as the mountain range of Sabinar, La Ceja, Negrete, Juan Navarro or the Turia pit. The victory of the side in the War of Spanish Succession (1704-1707) caused a deep administrative reform of the territory. The whole region took part in the Valencia Government, although there were doubts about creating a government in Alpuente.

 The final state provincial division was a work of the Liberal revolution after the Cadiz Parliament (1812). This situation brought the dissolution of former domains. La Serranía registered itself in the new Province of Valencia. It had a strategic importance during the two first Carlist wars (1836 and 1862). Moreover, it suffered the vicissitudes of the Civil War. Despite of being a rearguard area, in some municipalities were established bloodly battles, as the Frente de Andilla (1938-1939), what meant the destruction of the urban area and the end of the conflict, with the arrival of Franco troops in Valencia.

The ecclesiastical division of Diocese of Valencia, created in 1239, covered seven parish churches: Pedralba, Bugarra, Gestalgar, Sot de Chera, Chulilla, Losa del Obispo and Villar del Arzobispo. In 1957, after the Concordat between Spain and the Vatican, the parish churches of La Serranía, attached historically to the Diocese of Segorbe (Alpuente and Chelva arciprestazgo [parish churches distributed in a territorial way]). The General Administration of the State, the forest division of the Valencian region compromises the whole Serranía, and the Ademuz Corner is in the First Boundary Forest. It integrates with the Ademuz Corner, a larger entity dependent on Líria to the Health Area nº.5 of the Regional Ministry of Health or the Tax Authorities of that city.

Currently, La Serranía is looking to the future with an extense, rich and varied region, being capable of assimilating its past (with its many monuments) at the same time as its future. Nowadays, it has become true the extension of CV-35 road to Losa del Obispo (2007), gaining a deserved prominence in the Valencian region.