El Castellet de Confrides

 
 Aljofra Castle is situated on a rocky spur, called Penya del Castillo, which is situated about two kilometres to the southeast of the city of Alicante of Confrides, belonging to the region of Marina Baixa.<br>It is also known by the name of Alfofra Castle, as he was known to the settlement near the fortress before the construction of the current Confrides. It is accessed through a forest trail that leaves the own town of Confrides and that leaves us at the foot of the fortress. The last few hundred meters until she must necessarily make them walk.

HISTORY:

The population must have originally been a Muslim farmstead, probably from the 12th century. The castle originally could become a lookout or Tower Defense of the farmstead, which later become the Islamic fortress.


It was conquered by the troops of King Jaime I the Conqueror and donated in the year 1.264, Vidal de Sarriá, Lord of Callosa, including Confrides in territory of the lordship until many years later it passed to his son Bernat de Sarrià, and after this ceded it to Pedro Infante and later to the stately homes of Cardona and Ariza



During the wars with Castile in the 14th century, the Castilians took possession of it, keeping it active for a long time.


The population and the fortress suffered extensive damage in the bloody battles during the period of the rebellion caused by the Decree of expulsion of the Moors in the year 1.609.


During the war of succession, the population would always support the Bourbon cause and his castle had a great strategic importance due to its privileged location.


CURRENT STATUS:



The fort is currently in a state of near ruin. Still, you can see a remarkable amount of the elements of the old castle, especially its large stretches of wall of mud and stone, as well as a large part of the cylindrical structure of two of its towers of defense.  Quite well preserved are the remains of the towers which are in the form of rectangular bucket, also made ​​of masonry. The last tower , north of the castle, is in a sorry state being almost entirely demolished.  The set of towers and stretches of wall gives us a rough idea of ​​the size of the strength of Confrides, which once had to be considered as one of the important areas of the region of Comtat .