Hontanas

The earliest evidence of human presence around Hontanas comes from a prehistoric site known as "Yacimiento Hospital," associated with a probable funerary monument dating to the Neolithic or Chalcolithic period. In the broader area, Castrojeriz dominated regional life for much of antiquity — its hilltop castle built 46 years before the Christian era and occupied in succession by Celts, Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, and finally Christians, with significant battles between Christian and Moorish forces fought there.

By the late early medieval period, the territory of Hontanas was organised within the alfoz of Castrojeriz, a jurisdictional and administrative structure that helped stabilise the region during repopulation. The French Way of the Camino de Santiago began forming in the early medieval period and consolidated under Alfonso VII, a process tied to feudalisation of the land — expressed most clearly nearby in the founding of the Order and Convent of San Antón in 1146, between Hontanas and Castrojeriz.

Within the medieval territory of present-day Hontanas stood two now-vanished settlements: Valdemoro and Quintanilla. On 7 May 1183, King Alfonso VIII extended to both the fueros of Castrojeriz — among the earliest granted in the Kingdom of Castile — and cancelled prior tax arrangements. Valdemoro had a church of San Vicente and probably a monastery of the same dedication. Visible remains still include a buttress fragment two metres wide and eight metres high, curved roof tiles, wheel-thrown ceramics, limestone blocks, and several filled-in silos. Along the Camino de Santiago route near the site, limestone disc-shaped grave markers stand upright in the ground, and human bone fragments have been found around the building, confirming a necropolis. The settlement is cited in documents from 1173 in connection with the Camino, appears in the mid-medieval Becerro de Behetrías, but is absent from parish censuses of 1591–1594, suggesting it was already abandoned. Its church building was still reported in reasonable condition during a pastoral visit in 1755. Quintanilla, whose ermita and necropolis have since disappeared, stood to the northwest of the current village, above the municipal swimming pool; a small sarcophagus recovered from that spot confirms the associated burial ground.

Other medieval settlements in the area that were later abandoned include Espinosa, near the ermita of Nuestra Señora de Espinosa, and Santa Cruz de Valdealiso, on the boundary with Castellanos de Castro, where funerary slabs have been found.

The parish church of the Immaculada Concepción is the dominant structure in the village. Originally built in Gothic style, it was later reformed in a neoclassical manner. Its most prominent feature is a large three-section tower crowned by a half-orange dome. Inside, the church holds a Baroque altarpiece by the Montañés sculptor Fernando de la Peña, and a fine processional cross in copper with enamel work and figures characteristic of its period — considered to be of Spanish manufacture in a late Romanesque style. The church was built alongside the palace of the Bishop of Burgos, who became lord of the village on 1 April 1208 when King Alfonso VIII compelled Bishop Fernando to purchase the village of "Fontanas," along with its church of Santa María, for five hundred maravedís drawn from cathedral funds. A Gothic arch from that episcopal palace survives. Beside the church apse stands the Fuente de la Estrella, a carved stone fountain with a semicircular top and a six-pointed star in relief, with two symmetrical spouts.

The Hospital de San Juan — also known as the Mesón de los Franceses — is a medieval pilgrim hospital from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. It has been fully restored and now operates year-round as the municipal pilgrim albergue, open to those with a credential. It offers fifty-five places and hot showers, and still contains an original pointed Gothic arch and some silos discovered in the interior floor.

Elsewhere in the village, a medieval defensive tower stands in the plaza adjoining the church, dating to a period spanning two centuries, now accessible from inside the church. The ruins of the church of San Vicente — belonging to a former medieval settlement — preserve a corner wall, with remains of a Via Crucis nearby. About two kilometres outside the village stands the Ermita de la Virgen de Espinosa, where local tradition holds that the Virgin appeared to a villager; a romería was historically held to exchange this image with the Virgin of the Rosary. The valley also contains the Molino del Cubo, an old mill that still retains its machinery and the dam that fed it.

Hontanas has no ATM and no grocery store. Some accommodation providers sell prepared food to both guests and non-guests. There are several drinking fountains in the village.

The nearest major airports are Burgos province's connections via Madrid, Bilbao, and Santander; there is no train service to the village. The whole village is easily covered on foot.