Spain · 12th century
The Castle of El Toro (province of Castellón, Spain) is situated at the top of the town's urban core, at the spot known as "El Cerrito" (1,040 m). Presumably the first walls surrounding the fortress, built of small stones, were erected in defence against the barbarian invasions, and were successively enlarged and rebuilt in the Middle Ages.
Located between two historical regions, from its defensive position it strategically dominated much of the high plateau in a comarca defined as an entry point and passage for troops. It gained importance during the armed conflicts between Peter IV of Aragon and Pedro de Jérica, great-grandson of James I "the Conqueror", around 1336-37.
The castle is classified as the mountain type with an irregular plan and a church within its enclosure.
Inside the fortress can be seen the Main Tower or Keep, from which the standard flew. Today two reinforced ashlar corners reaching about two storeys in height can be seen.
Machine-translated from “Castillo de El Toro” on the Spanish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castillo de El Toro ranks #8,548 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #544 of the 607 mapped in Spain. Founded c. 1200, it is older than 75% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. The nearest day-trip guide is Castellón de la Plana, 61 km away. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.
View on the interactive castle map →