Calle de Pozas
The name refers to the five water pools that existed in the orchard of Diego Enríquez, parish priest of Colmenar de Oreja, whose plot stretched across the area before Philip II fixed the court in Madrid. Both the Teixeira map (1656) and the Espinosa map (1769) already record this name, making it one of the most stable place names in the Universidad district.
Calle de las Pozas climbs south to north in barely 154 metres, from Calle del Pez to Calle del Espíritu Santo. Six metres wide, it ranks among the narrowest lanes in the Centro district.
The name comes from an orchard. There the parish priest of Colmenar de Oreja, Diego Enríquez, kept five pools to water his plants, beside a fine-water fountain that opened its spouts to the neighbourhood on St John’s day.
In the mid-19th century the surroundings filled with letters: the Central University occupied the Carrera de San Bernardo and the street breathed that air of lecture halls and printing presses. At number 12 stood La Guirnalda, whose presses turned out several of Galdós’s novels, among them La Fontana de Oro and La desheredada. Rosa Chacel returned this street to literature in Barrio de Maravillas (1976).
Its names
- Calle de las PozasAntes de 1656 — actualidad