The Santa Cruz Castle
The Santa Cruz Castle is one of the symbols of the Council of Oleiros. It is placed on a small island in the Ría of A Coruña [the Galician word “ría” means estuary, firth] which is easily reached by crossing a wooden footbridge. Thanks to its high historic value, it has been declared a place of cultural interest, and adding to this the natural beauty of the setting and the landscape, it makes it an extraordinary spot full of magic and history.
Running around the island is a promenade offering a magnificent and unsurpassable view of the so called Herculean city, i.e. A Coruña, as well as of the village of Santa Cruz and its small port. Even though there are but a few fishermen working here nowadays, this used to be one of the biggest and most important ports in the Council of Oleiros from the 16th to the 18th century.
In the surroundings of Santa Cruz there are other interesting places well worth a visit too, such as the “Costa de Dexo-Serantes” Natural Monument, the Santa Cristina beach and the small port of the village of Lorbé.
Naval attacks lead to the construction of the Santa Cruz Castle
The attack launched by the English Navy commanded by Sir Francis Drake clearly showed the need to strengthen the defence system of the port of A Coruña. The San Antón Castle, which was the only defence bastion of the port of A Coruña, was simply not enough on its own to stop the English naval raids.
Thus, following the guidelines set by General Diego Das Mariñas, the building of a new fortress placed on the island of Santa Cruz, opposite A Coruña, began at the end of the 16th century. In 1640 the coastal defences of this fortress were finished. It was equipped with different artillery pieces, among which a powerful cannon named “Barraco” stood out.
A Coruña’s defence system, made up of the San Antón and Santa Cruz Castles, was eventually completed by the building of a third one, the San Diego Castle, along with some other small artillery batteries. When the naval attacks stopped in the 18th century, the Santa Cruz Castle was left abandoned.
The Quiroga-Pardo Bazán family transformed a ruinous fortress into a magnificent Country House
When the island of Santa Cruz was bought by Xosé Quiroga, husband of Galician writer Emilia Pardo Bazán, at an auction in the 19th century, this meant the end of its era of abandonment. He had a small typical Galician Country House built on it, where he and his family would spend their summers. The main building was formed by two towers united by a central body, which was subsequently extend in different stages.
The Spanish collection of proverbs says: “A typical Galician Country House means a chapel, a dovecote and cypress”, and the Santa Cruz Castle certainly features all those elements.
The Country House accommodates a small chapel. Nowadays, its coffered ceiling is the only element which is still preserved from that era.
It has also got a peculiar dovecote, which is possibly the only subterranean one in all Galicia, that is currently the home to numerous homing pigeons after having been disused for many years.
The Santa Cruz Castle has likewise got a small, yet beautiful, garden including some outstanding trees, most of which took roots a very long way from their native soil.
Thousand of orphans of the Spanish Civil War spent their summer holidays in the Santa Cruz Castle
The Castle of Santa Cruz was inherited by Blanca Quiroga, daughter of Emilia Pardo Bazán, and her husband General José Cavalcanti. In 1939 Blanca Quiroga donated her family’s Country House to the Spanish Cavalry with the aim of devoting it to the colonies of the orphans of the Spanish Civil War.
Until 1978, this old fortress was the summer home to thousands of army orphans who went to the Santa Cruz Castle to recover a bit of health and forget about their long winters at school. After this period, the island was left to abandonment once more.
The environmental commitment of the Town Council of Oleiros has marked the use of this castle
Because it is situated close to A Coruña, Oleiros and the particular features of its coastline, which is full of small, pleasant and welcoming beaches and coves, made it the centre of many real estate interests and thanks to its privileged setting and its state of abandonment the castle was also a focal point of this interest until it was eventually bought by the Council in 1989 with a very clear objective in mind: To allow all citizens to enjoy the most emblematic building on its territory and to turn it into the Galician Reference Centre for Environmental Education.
Yet achieving that goal was not easy and several years were needed to unite the interests of three public institutions with a strong commitment to environmental issues (Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Regional Government of Galicia, the Town Council of Oleiros and the University of A Coruña) to make it possible for the current CEIDA organisation to set out on the course of its project in 2001.
