Stables
In this stable of mules can be seen the main mule-driven tools used to till the land during this century.
In this stable of mules can be seen the main mule-driven tools used to till the land during this century.
A Gothic construction with a vault supported by two ogival arches. The original water troughs, manger and cobblestones are conserved in the stables. Presiding over the stables, above the manger, is a ceramic niche from the 16th century with an image of St. Anthony the Great.
Up until the 18th century the preferred crops of the Hieronymite monks were olive trees, vines, carob trees and almond trees, but during this century they started to plant mulberries, which were used to feed silk worms – an important industry at the time in the entire Kingdom of Valencia. These crops were grown until 1835, on which date the monks abandoned the monastery due to the ecclesiastical confiscations.
When Tomás Trenor Keating purchased the monastery in 1843, he also planted a large quantity of vines, walnut trees and other plants in order to harvest raisins, nuts and other dried fruit.
His son, Federico Trenor Bucelli, used the vines to make wine which, together with the crops mentioned above, was exported to Cuba, the Philippines and Spanish America; he was able to export a large quantity of agricultural produce and increased the numbers of mules, horses, cows and sheep.
In turn, his grandchild Federico Trénor Palavicino, continued along the same lines and employed the majority of the local people from Rótova and Alfauir as workers on his land.
