Cenicero

The area around Cenicero was already populated in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, as shown by the Celtic, Iberian and Roman  archaeological remains found at San Justo, Sanchisnal and Las Majadas.

We know of the existence of these settlements, but very little more. There is a big gap until 740, when King Alfonso I of Asturias, helped by his brother Franela, Duke of Cantabria, expelled the Muslims from a series of places, “taking the Christian inhabitants to the mountains and cutting the throats of the Muslims”.

About the etymology of Cenicero, the popular version is that it was a place where shepherds met and, when they threw out the ashes from their homes, they started to call it the “cenicero” (ashtray).

In 923 a monastery was built at Cenicero, 7 km from Nájera, built by Bishop Teodomiro.

The townspeople mainly work in agriculture and stockbreeding, although the main activity by far in Cenicero is winemaking and other trades related to it.