San Roque Chapel and Casa Xanzo

Chapter 4/9 · Salas

This little chapel is all that remains of the hospital of San Roque, already recorded in 1405. It belonged to the leper hospital of La Espina and received important donations from Archbishop Valdés-Salas. The municipality had several hospitals to look after pilgrims on the Way of Saint James, and records show that there was a pilgrims' cemetery near here.

The present building dates from the mid-17th century: the permit to build it is dated 1642. It is simple, with a large entrance arch and a bell gable with a single opening, and inside it keeps a 17th-century altarpiece with the image of the saint. The hospital probably stood where the houses with wooden galleries, attached to the chapel, are today.

Next to it, on the square, is Casa Xanzo, with its coat of arms under the cornice. It was a coaching inn, a stop for the stagecoaches, and its name recalls a blacksmith who lived there.

A little further on, a large country palace awaits us.

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