Ajuntament de Castellterçol

Castell i ermita

Escut de la família Xetmar

Ramon de Xetmar

Claustre de Santa Mª de l'Estany

Capella de la Mare de Déu del Remei

The name of the village of Castellterçol comes from the name of the castle that belonged to a noble called Terçol. We only know that he had already died in the year 898. Something similar happens in villages like Castellcir, Callús or Castellgalí -to just mention some located nearby- that got their names from a nobleman; Cir or Cirus, Lluç or Lucius and Galí.

We know that the Count of Barcelona Wilfred the Hairy re-structured these lands by the end of the year 879. They had already been conquered rom the Arabs in 798 but became again "no man's land" around 825 because of internalfights. Terçol could be one of the noblemen that the Count asked to reorganise the countryside.

Terçol chose to build his castle on a small mountain located just ten minutes away from the present village that was then built around the church of Sant Fructuós de Ginebreda. This name came from an important estate that still exists today. This mountain, located in the center of a small valley at 715 meters of altitude has a nearby brook and is surrounded by higher mountains that reach 731 meters on the village side and 827 on the summit of Puigrosanes. In spite of its situation the castle could not be reached by medieval arms and had excellent conditions as a residence for its owners.

The mountain where the castle is located is abrupt and easy to be defended from the North, South and East sides, while on the West side there is an oak grove which offered an easy access. Here it was necessary to excavate a moat. The owners of the castle had their residence in a square tower three stories high located in the center of the castle. The remnants of this tower have been excavated from 1993 on under the direction of Marina Miquel, of the Archeological Department of the Catalan Government.

On the East wall, the living quarters of the caretakers and defenders of the castle were built. Later on they have become the living quarters of the farmers as well as a summer residence of the owners. A few years ago, a small museum was built in one of the rooms. It contains pictures, historical documents and samples of the objects found during the excavations.

Under the authority of the Counts we always find a double family: the family of the owners and that of the caretakers.
After Terçol and between the years 952 and 964, Sala and his son Guadamir who belonged to the family that founded the monastery of Sant Benet de Bages were the owners of the castle. Later on the property went to the important Tedmar or Xetmar family.

We find the first Tedmar or Xedmar in 1080. The last one was Ramon, who sold the castle to the Abbot of the Monastery of l'Estany in the year 1259.

Each generation of the Xedmar family, while they were the owners of the castle, had a son who was a priest ("canónigo") in theVic Cathedral. This continued until the Xedmars went to La Selva and Gironés where they stayed during several centuries. The most famous one was Ramon Xetmar, also named of Castellterçol in some old documents. He was Bishop of Vic (1125-1194) and Archbisop of Tarragona (1194-1198).

Under the Xetmar's authority we can find the caretakers, called "Castellterçol". From 1259 on, they were submited to the abbots of theMonastery of Santa Maria de l'Estany where and some of the family members were priests. One of them was Guillem de Castellterçol. He has the title of "camerario" at l'Estany from 1287 till 1293 and later on, from 1304 to 1315 became "prepósito" of Sant Pere dels Arquells, a monastery dependent of l'Estany).

This family ends between 1330 and 1350, probably victims of the important black epidemic ("peste negra") of 1348, when many people died. From this date, the castle became the center of the administration of the Monastery of l'Estany in the area of Castellterçol and an agricultural estate that belonged to different families:Tor, Castell, Guardia, Maresch, Barraquer and Oller. In 1997, Jose M. de Anzizu and his wife Jean-Terry Roberts became the owners of the castle and started to promote its consolidation and revitalization with the help of the local group "Friends of the Castell Terçol".

In the southern side of the castle, below the buildings and "extra muros", there is the old chapel of Sant Miquel de Castellterçol, today better known as the chapel of the Virgen de los Remedios. We know that in the year 1111 Tedmar Miró ordered in his will that it be dedicated to the religious cult. The present romanic building belongs probably to this era but it has suffered some internal and external changes. The rector of Castellterçol Tomás Vila was buried there in 1829.

In 1852, the image of the Virgen de los Remedios was bought and placed in the chapel, Saint Michael then occupying a secondary place. This image and also that of the Saints Cosme and Damià indicate that these changes were probably due to one of the frecuent epidemics of the XIX century. In the cholera epidemic of 1854, 22 persons were buried near the chapel while the new cemetery of the village was being built.

The "Aplec" or public gathering takes place every year the second Sunday of October.

Text written by the historian Mossèn Antoni Pladevall

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