History of Las Rozas
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According to some historians Las Rozas could have been Miacum, from which the name Madrid was derived, and which was founded in the 3rd century AD. Las Rozas was located on the road between Segovia and Titulcia, which accounts for its position.
The first document that refers to Las Rozas itself dates from 1376, although it would appear that the town existed earlier than that. The town of "Las Rozas" appears in Volume V of the "Relaciones Historico-Geografico-Estadisticas" ("Historical, Geographical, and Statistical List") of the towns of Spain that was written during the reign of Felipe II and that is now kept in the library at the El Escorial Monastery.
The Pasture of Holy María of the Retamar appears mentioned in a letter dated to November 18, 1303 on the lawsuit between Madrid and Segovia by those lands in which also is mentioned to Galapagar, Torrelodones and Colmenarejo. The legend says that was there where appeared the Virgin of the Retamar, the image that was carved then in its honor is not the one that today itself scallop in the Church of San Miguel and that serves for the processions that carry the Virgin to the new hermitage that was built in the years 90, a little more near the town that the original one, next to Dehesa de Navalcarbón.
During the reign of Carlos III is projected to create a channel útopico that a the river Guadarrama with the apple Orchards and this with the Cut until arriving al Oceano by Lisbon. Very near the oak Grove of Them you Graze, in Them Kill, we can find the remainders of the prey that was built for this proposito.
In a map of the year 1755, the name appears of you Kill High (Las Matas), that was populated with laborers that built the highway that carried to Segovia. Subsequently it was of the factory of RENFE of the one that been nourished said nucleo urban.
During the Spanish Civil War the area saw a number of large battles, and remnants of bunkers from that era can still be seen today in the Navalcarbón meadows.
In the winter of 1936, pro-Franco troops advanced on western Madrid from the bases of Brunete, Villaviciosa de Odón and Campamento. In fog and very low temperatures, Republican and Nationalist troops, along with air support, fought one of the worst battles of the civil war in Madrid. The inhabitants of Las Rozas took refuge in other places around the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains, such as the caves of Hoyo de Manzanares.
The Church of San Miguel and all houses in Las Rozas were completely destroyed in the battle. At the end of the war, the government created the Department of Devastated Areas in order to assist with the reconstruction of towns destroyed by the war, among which was Las Rozas.
