History of a cave dwelling

According to the Catastro, our cave was 'built' in 1970. I rather suspect that that was the date of reformation, rather than excavation, but how would I find out its earlier history and layout? We have reason to think the cave might be bigger than the current plan indicates. Would the local town hall know more of its history, or were these caves not otherwise recorded?

TIA

Bill and Antje

local people would know. you may need an interpreter though.

Mandi wrote:local people would know. you may need an interpreter though.

Yes, I think that would be your best bet.
Hopefully you know the name of the person you bought from. If your locale is like mine the long-term residents will know it as the "cave of ... ".
The date you have could also simply be the date that the dwelling was normalised onto the register.

We know the owners, and they have been there since 2003. The cave is well known locally , and was given the name Zarzamodonia at some stage. We think that until 1970 it may not have been officially registered, so local knowledge is worth a lot. My wife speaks fluent Spanish, and I am learning, so we can get chatting to neighbours. Thanks for your replies- there seems to be more of a true community spirit in the Baza area than there is where we are now. While I'm here, is there much snow in the area in winter?

When we reformed our cavehouse it hadn't been lived in for several decades. We got chatting to a couple who live elsewhere but spend the summer here and it turned out she had lived in the cave until she was 6 years old. She then came round with her 92 year old dad - it was great to hear their reminiscences! Glad we have running water and don't have to wash in the acequia! Amd don't share the cave with donkeys, rabbits and chickens!
The amount if snow here depends on the severity of the winter, but there's always snow on the mountains in winter - looks beautiful.

Then I hope we are lucky enough to encounter someone who knows the history...our immediate neighbours are ex-pats too, but there are Spanish families nearby. Maybe a trip to the local bar will help, not that I ever needed an excuse!

Where are you? Pop your location in your profile please.

We are currently near Denia, and hope to start moving into our cave in Galera from Nov 23rd onwards. Once we are there, I will update my profile.

Ok, so Galera. You shouldn't have much of a problem finding out information there. Ask the locals, the Ayuntamiento, the museum and the local builder. Im sure you will be able to find out.
Good luck with the move too.

You could talk to Pillar at the town hall, she has some English and is a lovely girl.

Thanks Mandi- we are in the process of moving into Calle Sevilla, so will probably find ourselves in the town hall at some point. We brought some stuff down yesterday, and it seems that some parts of Galera are accessible to small 4wd cars only!

Age of caves are so difficult with limited records of habitation at the Ayuntamiento office.. Our cave was owned by my neighbor and her Grandparents lived there but she knows someone lived there before them during conversation..Another thing is with the cave being closest to the castle it was probably animal sheds as well ..who knows maybe back to the moors occupation even