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History of Bullas
![Boy with the Grapes - [Click to enlarge]](img/ninouvas.jpg)
Antiquity
![Boy with the Grapes - [Click to enlarge]](img/ninouvas_gd.jpg)
The first signals of human presence in the lands that today integrate the area of Bullas date back to the Neolithic period, 5,000 years ago. Remains belonging to this age have been found in the Cabezo del Oro, Reclín, El Castellar, la Fuente Mula, and Pasico Ucenda sites.
The Argaric Culture, which dominated the South East of the Iberian Peninsula during the Bronze Age, left new vestiges in the above mentioned places, as well as in Cabezo del Molinar and Fuente de la Higuera.
After the Iberian period we get to the Roman epoch to find a significant occupation of the Bullas territory. There was no city, but actually there were a number of 'villae' or rural estates that would have profited from the great number of water streams in the area to develop an agricultural activity. Remains of these buildings have been found in Fuenblanquilla, Fuente Mula, El Romero, Fuente de la Carrasca, La Copa and La Loma , although we have to remark Los Cantos over all of them, which dates from the 1 st century CE, and which would persist until the Barbarian invasions in the 5 th century CE. The 'villa' of Los Cantos has been a site of important archaeological findings, such as the sculpture of the well-known 'Boy with the Grapes', an important local symbol which represents a little seasonal deity, in this case for autumn.
There are also many theories attributing legendary origins and a fantastic history to Bullas. Many of these false data came from the so called 'falsos cronicones' (forged historical reports), usual during the 17th and 18th centuries and which were intended to glorify the local histories. In this context we should consider the pretended ancient names of 'Abula Bastetana' or 'Bulla Regia' or the presence of characters such as the Queen Belkis or the Bishop St. Segundo.
The Middle Ages
After the abandonment of the Roman villae we have a dark period concerning facts of the Early Middle Ages in Bullas. These depopulated lands would remain under the shadow of near city of Begastri, which was an Episcopal see by that time.
It was not until the Moslem domination period in the 11th and 12th centuries when the castle of Bullas was founded, erected in what today constitutes the town old quarter. By the same time, a small walled enclosure dominating the area from the Castellar Rock was built, which is nowadays known as the 'Castillico'. Bullas was a Moslem foundation, so its name is likely to be from Arabic origin and not Latin as it has been traditionally stated (from 'bullae'=bubbles, because of the great number of water springs in the area).
In the mid 13th century the conquest of the Kingdom of Murcia by the Castilian troops took place. It was then that the name of Bullas appears for the first time on a written document, dated on July 22nd, 1254, when the Castle of Bullas is given to the town of Mula. A few years later it was conceded, together with Caravaca and Cehegín, to the Temple Order. Under the Templars, the only battle held in Bullas according to the chronicles took place. Ali Muhammad, from the town of Huéscar, attacked the fortress of Bullas forcing the 'comendador' (knight commander) Bermudo Menéndez to escape. This deed is recreated in a peculiar popular way each month of July, during the Clock Tower festivity.
In the 14 th century, after the extinction of the Temple Order, Bullas and the rest of the district were transferred to the St. James Order, which possessed it for almost 600 years.
In 1347 the castle of Bullas was wrecked. Ruy Chacón, the 'comendador' of Caravaca, presented a project for rebuilding it in 3 years. But this could not be carried out since on the next year the terrible Pest, the Black Death that decimated the whole European population, started. Bullas was probably already depopulated, but the abandonment of that project condemned the castle to remain as a heap of ruins for over two centuries. In 1398 then lands of Bullas were divided between Cehegín and Mula, and in 1444 the town was definitively given to Cehegín.
17th century. The rebirth of Bullas
![The 1664 stolen sink, 'la pila robá' - [Click to enlarge]](img/pilaroba_gd.jpg)
Bullas remained as a depopulated area until late in the 16th century. Its lands belonged to owners from Cehegín. Little by little, the old medieval enclosure was being repopulated, since the farmers preferred living near the lands they had to work on. The new settlers built their houses over the ruins of the old castle (that is why the castle does not exist anymore). In the mid 17th century, the several hundreds of inhabitants of Bullas started to realise the disadvantages of being under the authority of Cehegín, which was 3 leagues (15 km) from Bullas. The first secessionist movements took place concerning religious matters. The St. Antón hermitage, the first Christian temple in the village, did not count on the continuous assistance of a priest, who should come from Cehegín. In 1664 the religious independence was achieved, with the establishment of a baptismal sink in the hermitage (the well known 'pila robá', or 'stolen sink', so called since several men from Bullas brought it back to Bullas after it had been confiscated by the Cehegín Town Council, opposed to the religious autonomy of Bullas). These facts were the prelude of the political independence, whose process started in December, 1685 .
After a great effort for paying 34,832 'reales' and 12 'maravedíes' to the Crown, King Charles II, 'the Enchanted', awarded the privilege of township to Bullas, on December 19th, 1689, which came into force on Jun 17th, 1690 when Judge José de Berzosa came to Bullas from Madrid. Two days later the first Town Council was constituted, meeting in the Plaza Vieja (the Old Square). Consequently, the census was elaborated and the local limits were established. The village of La Copa asked to be included under these limits, joining then its destiny to Bullas. This way the new town started its path with the only wealth of a few lands and the work of its humble people.
18th century
The next years after the municipal independence were a period of great dynamism for the new town. It was a time of strong economic growth, without too many conflicts that altered the development of the locality.
The urban framework began to expand quickly, as well as its population. The construction of important and necessary buildings was soon undertaken. Firstly, it was the new church, which would replace the old St. Antón hermitage. In 1723 the parochial temple was finalized and put under the invocation of Our Lady of the Rosary, which was democratically decided by the people of Bullas. Some years later the slaughter house, the 'pósito' (official wheat warehouse), the town council and the jailhouse were built.
19th century
The new century began with the remodelling of the parochial church, which would give it its current aspect with the construction of its showy tower. They were not easy times for the inhabitants of Bullas, who were affected by diverse epidemics all throughout the century, tertian fever in 1802 and 1817, children dysentery in 1821, cholera in 1855 and 1885. These epidemics decimated the population of Bullas who could do little to prevent them in an environment of generalized poverty.
Also the conflicts on the waters of the Mula River were frequent against the neighbouring town of that same name, which caused several lawsuits and sometimes even violent confrontations. On the other hand, people stopped paying the tithes to the St. James Order in 1841. The century ended with the phylloxera plague that devastated the vineyards of the region and provoking a serious problem for the local economy.
But the 19th century was also a time of great public projects. The local oligarchy, with surnames such as Carreño, Melgares and Marsilla, were the ones to get involved in carrying them out. This is not surprising since they controlled the Town council and had enough resources to engage them. Furthermore, they eventually became the main beneficiaries themselves.
The present cemetery (that came to replace the old one in the 'Paraíso' quarter) was constructed in 1885. The public laundry was erected in 1894 whereas the first telephonic and telegraphic connections date from 1897. The electrical supply arrived in Bullas in 1900. In that same year the Clock Tower was built in order to regulate the irrigation turns in the near orchards.
20th century
![La Tercia Street in 1932 - [Click to enlarge]](img/tercia1932_gd.jpg)
Bullas was dragged during the 20th century by such ups and downs and convulsions that affected the whole Spain . During the first third there was a certain social and economic stability.
The arrival of the Second Republic in 1931 provoked a radical political polarization likewise in the whole country. The situation was overflowed after the outbreak of the Civil War in July, 1936. Bullas would remains in the republican zone until the end of the conflict. The young men marched to the front. More than 200 men from Bullas perished during the fight. The revolutionary din seized the landowners' properties and destroyed the ornaments of the parochial temple, although local life predominantly went on in the middle of a tense quietness.
The arrival of the pro-Franco dictatorship brought an initial period of repression to the sectors that had collaborated with the Republic and the return to the traditional values, specially the religious fervour. These were the 'starving years', a time dominated by hunger and shortage. In the 50's, the situation started to improve little by little, mainly because of the beginning of the emigration that would become generalized in the 60's. Barcelona, Madrid, Biscay, France and Germany would receive a great number of workers from Bullas. That decade would also see the beginning of the activity of the agro-alimentary industry that diversified an economy still strongly based on agriculture. The street map began to grow, overflowing the urban limits with the erection of new quarters. The last third of the century, after the return to the democracy in Spain , has supposed a strong development of Bullas in many aspects. Construction has become one of the motors of the local economic activity and the education has improved considerably. New infrastructures have contributed to the modernization of Bullas. The town, which was predominantly emigrant in the 60's has begun at the end of the 90's to receive people coming from other places of the world, mainly Ecuador, who have settled here, searching for better future expectations.