Puentecillas, Palencia

Puentecillas constitutes one of the urban elements of greater personality of the city of Palencia, and key factor in the urban development of the area. It is located in a monumental environment of great interest, next to representative monuments of the city of Palencia such as the Cathedral, the church of San Miguel, or the Episcopal Palace and the bank of the Carrión with its other bridges, which reinforces its character of urban generator.

Of Roman origin, its layout responds to the communication needs of the city of Pallantia and is constituted as a fundamental enclave in the development of road and commercial networks from the Vaccean period until the early twentieth century. Its construction allowed the passage from the city to the natural island of the Carrión occupied since time immemorial by the Sotillo de los Canónigos Park.

Its current structure is very altered, and has undergone countless transformations since the 11th century. The biggest reform was carried out in the 16th century, which defined the current lines of the bridge and made a large part of the remains of the Roman bridge disappear.

Lost its usefulness and economic and political value as a crossroads and roads to the main cities and towns of the region in Roman times and as a link and the only access to the city from the Huertas del Obispo and Sotillo, forming part of the elements of milling exploitation from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, nowadays it has become a public monument for leisure and enjoyment, in a recreational area located in the centre of the city, with green spaces where festivals and medieval markets are held, taking advantage of the freshness offered by the banks of the river Carrión and the banks of the Canal de Castilla.

During the XX century it suffered a small abandonment that was degrading it, the quantity of plants that in its stones were incrusted deteriorated it until at the beginning of the XXI century it was restored: its facades were cleaned, the pavement was renewed and a new illumination was added.