Sundial Route
Uses and traditions of a farming past
The "Piedra de la Veces" or "Piedra de las Partes" is a reminder of the agricultural and livestock farming past of the Sierra de Madrid mountain range. Irrigation communities during medieval times developed a system run by the irrigation channel mayor, the water carrier and the clerk
The division of tasks was very clear. The clerk kept a record of everything agreed upon; the mayor, who assigned the irrigation time, was appointed on the day the ditch was cleared of weeds, stones and branches, tasks that were done at the beginning of spring; the water carrier was the one who enforced the irrigation rules, distributed the water and notified the neighbors.
Piedras de las veces or how to distribute the irrigation
These rocks had a specific function in the traditional irrigation system, placed in the irrigation channel or open channels in the soil, measuring fifty centimetres wide and utilising the water from the mountain. This system has been preserved to this day in some towns. In Prádena del Rincón, Gandullas and Piñuecar, for example, mayors, clerks and water carriers were in charge of irrigation schedules. The mayor had to supply the labourers with meat and wine on the day that channels were cleaned.
In Montejo and Robregordo, the workers who were set to be cleaning the channel for the first time, along with guests, the secretary and parish priest, had to voluntarily wet their head in the irrigation channel if they did not want to be thrown fully-clothed, or even wrapped in a blanket, into the water
The irrigation clock is a circular-shaped stone with an iron rod inserted vertically through the middle in order to produce a shadow, precisely how a sundial works. The stone is marked with grooves in the form of spokes that represent the times, i.e., the space between rays equals the time during which each inhabitant could use the water from the irrigation channel.
The day was divided into five sections: morning, morning, siesta, afternoon and night. In this way, a more or less proportional distribution of the water flow was ensured.
Route of irrigation clocks
Navarredonda-Gandullas-La Serna del Monte-Madarcos and Aoslos