Jérica

People have lived here since the Neolithic, as finds in the Cueva de los Herreros confirm. Iberian settlements followed, and the Romans left more remains here than anywhere else in the comarca — including a gravestone unique in all of ancient Hispania for recording the cost of a Roman arch with two statues.

The town's medieval story begins under Muslim rule, when Jérica formed part of the Taifa of Valencia after the Caliphate of Córdoba broke apart. The Cid took it in 1098, and the oldest parts of the castle and bell tower date from that era. Christian forces captured it in 1235, though the Muslim population was not expelled. Jérica then passed through the hands of Jaime I, who in 1255 rerouted the royal road from Aragon to Valencia through the town, and later gifted it to Teresa Gil de Vidaure. A succession of lords followed — the house of Jérica, the Crown of Aragon, the infant Martín, Alfonso V's brother — until a corrupt sale to Francisco Zarzuela in 1431 brought years of hardship. The townspeople petitioned Ferdinand the Catholic directly, and in 1479 Jérica returned to the Crown. After a final chapter as a lordship under the Duke of Calabria and then the monks of San Miguel de los Reyes, it was incorporated fully into royal domain in 1564.

The landmark most people associate with Jérica is the Torre de las Campanas, a mudéjar bell tower built in 1634 on older foundations. It is the only tower of its kind in the Comunidad Valenciana, and it stands apart from its own church — a relatively rare arrangement. The castle was largely destroyed in the Carlist Wars, but Roman foundations and substantial Muslim-period construction survive, including the robust square keep known as La Torreta, with walls over 1.5 metres thick and round arches in the ground-floor vaults.

Two Muslim watchtowers, the Torres de los Ordaces and la Muela, once formed part of the castle's lookout system but are now in poor condition. The town also has a parish church, a parish museum, a municipal museum, two ermitas, and the former Convent of Nuestra Señora del Socorro.