There is an account of this role written in 1781 by Don Antonio Ponz, in his monumental work Journey around Spain, in which there is significant entry in Vol.

The work was published in Madrid, about 1781 The (Spanish language) entry concerning the Kingdom of Patones is (approximately interpreted) as follows: "About halfway between the towns of Uceda and Torrelaguna and to the left of the road is a large pass in the mountains, which seals a small valley, called " The Place of The Patones " It is the scene of a legend which is as follows: In the unfortunate age in which the Saracens became masters of Spain, we know that many of our inhabitants fled to the mountains and the most hidden nooks and crannies therein.

Some good Christian Goths fled to this area, in search of refuge from their fierce and ruthless enemies in this rough and rugged country.

Here they found asylum from the worst savagery of Muslim power, maintaining their customs, beliefs and sustaining themselves by hunting, fishing, beekeeping, herding of goats and growing of some rye crop, as they do now.

This man, who was peaceful and adverse to gossip, kept accounts and managed the estates of his subjects according to tradition – a flood of legal formulas of his kingdom where trials were entirely verbal, lacking written declarations, formal transactions or recorded judgments.

It should no laughing matter that this may well be tested in Madrid in some respects and even, I have understood that His Majesty, Don Fernando VI, who wanted to inquire about some unusual circumstances of the kingdom of Patones ... How many moral and political reflections spring to mind!

Therefore be advised, dear readers of this unique purposeful and enduring Platonic monarchy, and wonder how is it possible that there it was, but twelve leagues distant from Madrid, unknown, or at least its spirit unremarked?

We know that our curiosity leads us to investigate what happens to two or three thousand leagues distant, ignoring that which seems familiar, merely because is in our own house .. "Patones Arriba is almost exclusively constructed in black slate and provides an important source of information for students of medieval and drystone architecture.

Above Patones Arriba, in different areas known as eras there are crop terraces once used for growing rye, pens for holding livestock (which were mostly goats) and sties for pigs.

It is the last of six reserves along the course of the river Lozoya and is also its oldest, having been built in 1857 as part of a system of dams and canals supplying drinking water to the capital.

It has a length of 13 kilometers (eight miles), and was the first to be built to irrigate the valley of Uceda from the river Lozoya (and later the Ponton de la Oliva).

The Hermitage, now a ruin under a preservation order, was built for a religious community in about the 12th or 13th century and was attached to the Cathedral Church of Alcala de Henares and now belongs to the successor Diocese of Complutense, based in the same town.