Barx
During the Middle Ages, Barx was inhabited by Muslims. The process of
re-conquest by King James II delivered into the hands of the Monastery
of Saint Mary at Simat de Valldigna (c.1300) and the first Christian
inhabitants began to arrive. In 1311 the abbot ordered the building of
houses at La Drova for the purpose of nursing sick friars back to
health. The endeavours of the monks, during more than a century, to
settle a united and stable Christian community came to nothing, and Barx
became a farming area and a transit place for passing cattle.
Due to the difficulties with the farmers in Barx, the Monastery made a
decision, in 1651, to build houses for Barx settlers, in the "Plaza de
la Constitución" (Constitution Square), as well as an Oratory, two oil
presses, a grain storage, a wine storage, an oven, and some sort of
tower that (it is claimed) gives the village its name ...this is
questionable as the Moorish name that makes reference to a tower
actually pre-dates its construction! There is obviously some work left
for local historians!
.
The relationship between Barx and the Monastery has not always been an
easy one during its five-hundred-year association; a conflict between
the two came to a head in 1779 when the people of Barx ("barxeros")
presented a legal petition against the abusive authority of the abbot.
The gradual move away from the church is first set out in the historic
documentation of the changes refers to the construction of the spring of
"Racó"(22nd of November 1799) and is symbolic of the independence of
Barx from the Monastery. The same did not happen with La Drova, which
was exploited by the monks until the confiscation of the land belonging
to the church, brought about by Mendizábal, and sold to private
individuals We have to wait until 1835 before Barx was officially freed
of its ancient obligations to the monastery. In 1838 Barx became an
independent municipal authority.
