Concejo or Villa Fountain

Not verified.

The fountain of the Council is the only one in the town center of the town, in the historic center, just below the current Plaza del Sacristán Guerrero and facing the former Palace-House of the Counts of Castellar (current City Hall), as the chronicler of the Mercedarian order, Fray Pedro de San Cecilio, refers to it: “It has only one source of fresh water, which springs from the head of a barrier adjacent to the Palace of the Counts“.

As indicated by Madoz, the water of the fountain was of a regular quality, which in the town has always been called “fat” water, a fact that made it necessary to draw water either from private wells or from the nearby fountains of La Muela or La Alunada, which were more suitable for human consumption.

The origin of the water is to be found in a spring improved by “a curious system of mines, which, according to information, would come from the very entrails of the promontory where the parish church is located“. We have to say that this system of mines starts from the Alcor, so we find a reference to the so-called lumbreras (today Lumbreras street) “where the water comes to the source of it [de la villa]”.

The fountain, as well as the mountains, meadows, etc., were the property of the lord, as evidenced by the founding document of the entailed estate “consisting of the town of Viso with its vassals, boundaries, mountains, meadows, pastures, pastures, meadows, running waters, shelves and manantes…”. Its importance is reflected in the Municipal Ordinances, which specify that those in charge of cleaning the fountain every two years were the Ordinary Mayors, who also had the obligation to repair and clean the fountains at the expense of the Council. So that the water would not be contaminated with soap, it was strictly forbidden, and subject to a fine, to wash clothes both in the fountain and in the pillar, hence the faithful in charge of its maintenance and cleaning had the power to arrest the person or persons who were caught washing in these places. This is a complex system of pipes that leads the water from the fountain, through a pipe system parallel to the walls of the palace-house, to a pillar or trough where no neighbor could take his oxen to drink without the permission of the Council. The water from the fountain, in turn, discharged into the washing place that depended on the lessors of the garden of the Villa or below, (owned by the Council in the sixteenth century) so they were obliged to have it full of water.so that the women can wash in it, according to what has always been used, mainly on Fridays and Saturdays… under penalty of one hundred maravedíes for the said Council”. In addition, the lessors of the orchard were obliged to clean the pool and the pillar every month, thus avoiding the accumulation of silt and dirt. In the event that the pool was empty, they were obliged to have the one known as “la de abajo ” ready. From the pool the water ran to the Alcantarilla stream. Another branch or pipe from the fountain went to the Mercedarian convent, which had been granted half a straw of water by Don Gaspar Juan Arias de Saavedra since 1625.

When it was necessary to fix the pillar or the washing place, and since the water belonged to the Lord, the repairs were paid between the Lord and the Council, according to the agreement between both parties. The fountain gave rise to conflicts between the neighbors and the Mercedarian convent that took more water than they had been granted, as it happened in June 1654, date in which it was detected that the fountain was not pouring water. Faced with this circumstance, the Cabildo decided to gather the neighbors and open the fountain, finding its cannons obstructed. In view of this fact, it was decided to ask for damages from the Father Commander and the Provincial, who reproached the facts. A few years earlier, in 1643, there was a transcendental change in the appearance of the fountain, as the Cabildo agreed to ask the Count to cover the fountain because it was uncovered “a lot of things are thrown out and a lot of children fall”. This is the first change that occurred in the fountain because, when it was covered, a vault had to be built, over which, in time, houses would be built. These houses disappeared around the fifties of the last century, when the Cross of the Fallen was erected.

“From the most remote antiquity the hill where the present Parish Church is located was a sacred place related to a magical route; in which this sacredness has lasted until today” (Peláez).

According to traditional historiography, the chapel of Cristo del Amor (the oldest part of the Parish) was a Muslim marabout of the small Andalusian village of El Viso.

It was possibly a Franciscan hermitage in the fifteenth century dedicated to Santa Maria del Alcor, as deduced from the reading of the Bull of Nicolaś V, the ITER ECLESIÁSTICOS, given in Rome on August 5, 1447.

With the demographic growth of the village, this small chapel would be enlarged (late fifteenth century-early sixteenth century) and would become the Church of El Viso, which would receive the dedication, like that of the neighboring Mairena, of Santa Maria del Alcor.

This religious place is also associated, as it could not be otherwise, with a fountain or spring: the Fuente del Concejo.

The Fountain is associated with a Roman water mine, which, according to testimonies of old wells, crosses the urban area. It has been explored by the Andalusian Association of Underground Explorations (AAES), but only a few meters could be studied, since the lumen openings have been covered and landslides have occurred. The most remarkable thing is the discovery of some engravings on the fresh mortar dating from 1874, which provide us with a list of the participants in a waterproofing work using lime mortar in the final zone of the mine.