Ovens of the Castle

We are before four unique bread ovens built between party walls. Each one of those appears to be composed of a cavity that receives the name of “capela”, and appears to be settled on the “lar” (place in the house used to start a fire) and covered by a small hemispherical copula of stonework and lifted by means of brick walls. During the heating and cooking, the mouth of the oven stays closed with a small wooden door. When the stones of the interior became white hot, the bakers knew that they could bake the bread, as it had already reached the necessary temperature. The Cadastre of the Marquis of Ensenada from 1753 affirms that in the town of Monterrei worked eleven bakers, although only five were exclusively dedicated to that trade. One of those bakers was María Feixóo, the only woman of Monterrei who had a recognised trade.