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A lane through vines and almonds towards Hondón de los Frailes church beneath steep limestone mountains
Reviewed August 2026
Hondon Valley

Hondón de los Frailes: vines, friars and a village between sierras

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Hondón de los Frailes is a small village in a narrow cultivated corridor between two mountain fronts. The Sierra de los Frailes rises to the north, while the ranges of Crevillente and Albatera close the southern horizon. Houses, church and fields remain tightly related at a scale quite different from the coastal towns beyond the mountains.

A name inherited from the friars

Archaeological evidence records limited occupation in Roman times, but the documentary story of the present settlement begins much later. In 1498 Jaime de Santángel, lord of Redován, received the lands known as the Fondón. The lordship changed hands after financial difficulty and in 1616 the Dominican College of Preachers in Orihuela bought Redován with the Hondón lands.

The Dominicans controlled the estate for roughly two centuries. Their ownership explains the name de los Frailes, of the friars, rather than the presence of a large monastery in the village. Liberal confiscation in 1836 ended the religious lordship and Hondón de los Frailes became a dependent settlement of Redován.

From Redován to an independent council

Residents then sought a different administrative future. A royal decision in December 1839 separated the village from Redován and joined it to the new municipality of Hondón de las Nieves. The two Hondón settlements remained under one council until 1926, when Hondón de los Frailes achieved final separation as its own municipality.

That sequence explains both connection and difference. The villages share one agricultural basin and were governed together for almost nine decades, but Los Frailes has a separate earlier relationship with the Redován lordship and the Dominican college.

Church and compact village

The parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Salud stands near the centre of the low settlement. Municipal heritage records date its origin to the nineteenth century and associate it with the Dominicans. It is a restrained single-nave building with masonry walls, a square bell tower and a series of side chapels, protected as a locally significant building.

The church is most useful as an orientation point. From nearby streets the village quickly gives way to vines, almond trees, olives and dry-stone field edges. The close sierra is present above roofs and at the end of lanes rather than as a distant scenic backdrop.

Working fields below the sierra

Hondón de los Frailes also lies inside the protected area for Vinalopó bagged table grapes. Selected bunches remain inside individual paper bags for at least sixty days before being picked by hand. Wine grapes, almonds and olives add variety, but the pale covers hanging from table-grape vines are the clearest sign of the specialised local crop.

A marked path named for Jaime el Barbudo leaves the village towards the mountain landscape. The route name recalls the nineteenth-century bandit whose story is attached to several Alicante and Murcia sierras. It should not obscure the more enduring story visible on the ground: cultivated plots, passes between settlements and the difficult boundary between cleared fields and steep rock.

Exploring with the scale in mind

  • The centre and field edges can be understood on foot, but working plots and farm tracks are not automatically public.
  • Mountain routes are exposed and can cross rough limestone. Check the current waymarking and carry enough water.
  • Bagged grapes are seasonal and should be left undisturbed on the vine until the grower harvests them.
  • The village is lived-in and compact, so park and pass through residential streets considerately.

The old administrative connection continues naturally north into Hondón de las Nieves. South-east across the sierra, Crevillente offers another view of dry mountain agriculture, water management and settlement at the edge of the plain.

Sources and review

Reviewed in August 2026 using Hondón de los Frailes council records for the village's history, agricultural economy and current municipal heritage catalogue, together with the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture specification for Vinalopó bagged table grapes. Path conditions, crop access and heritage arrangements change, so confirm current local information before visiting.