Benalup

The population of Benalup - Casas Viejas is at 6,000 and there are traces of an old Roman road in Benalup-Casas Viejas that passes by the area from Medina Sidonia to the Gibraltar straits. This road gives historians a clue of how the town gave support to an early agricultural and stockbreeding commerce. This contributed to the town’s importance when the Muslim era came. The Muslims made full use of the agricultural richness of the area and eventually built a castle called Benalup that was to become the early name of the town.

Casas Viejas was the name of the monastic hermitage community established in the area around the time that the town was sold to the Council of Sidonia. From the 16th century, this small community gained in number of inhabitants and the first registry for the neighborhood was carried out in 1838. After several changes through the centuries, the old name of Benalup was joined to the name Casas Viejas in 1991 after the town’s formal separation from Medina Sidonia.