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Municipality of La Lastrilla (Segovia Province, Castile and Leon, Spain)

In use (rectangular)
image by Ivan Sache, 18 Oct 2010

As prescribed, but not in use (square)
image by Ivan Sache, 18 Oct 2010

Introduction
Description

See also:

Segovia Province (Castile and Leon, Spain)
Castile and Leon (Castilla y León, Spain)
Spain

Introduction

The town of La Lastrilla (3,137 inhabitants in 2008; 944 ha) is located 3 km north-east of Segovia, bordering the provincial capital.

La Lastrilla must have emerged in the 10th-11th centuries, when the Christian Kings resettled the north of the Iberic Penisula. The local Muslim populations mixed with colonists from Cantabira, Basque Country and Navarre. The name of the town is the diminutive form of "lastras," referring to the soil on which the town was built. Segovia is surrounded by such "lastras," that is stony soils in which the mother limestone rock easily outcrops. The word "lastras"could be related to the Basque word "arlasta," "natural flagstones." However, the area was settled much earlier, as proved by prehistoric and Roman remains. It is believed that the stones used to build the famous Segovia aquaduct were cropped on the soil (as "bolos de granito") in San Lorenzo de Segovia and El Sotillo, the latter place being part of La Lastrilla. Mentioned for the first time in a church document dated 1247, La Lastrilla reappeared only in 1401, in the Decree regulating the use of water of the canal of river Cambrones, issued by the Noble Junta de Cabezuelas. La Lastrilla is listed as the owner of the rights on the village of Ojalvilla, which susequently disappeared and was replaced by El Sotillo. The third historical document, dated 1533, mentions La Lastrilla as a suburb ("arrabal") of Segovia.

Source: Municipal website, historical record by Francisco Javier Mosácula María

Ivan Sache, 05 Sep 2009

Description

The flag and arms of La Lastrilla are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 26 May 2009 by the Municipal Council, signed on 1 June 2009 by the Mayor, and published on 4 August 2009 in the official gazette of Castile and Leon, No. 147, pp. 24,299-24,300. Designed by the "Instituto Borbone de Heráldica Municipal," the symbols are described as follows:

Municipal flag: Square panel in proportions 1:1, divided vertically into two equal stripes, blue at hoist and white at fly. In the middle, the colored municipal coat of arms.

Municipal coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Argent a quarryman's sledgehammer and peak sable crossed per saltire over three waves azure and argent. 2. Azure a cross and a crescent superimposed all argent, emblem of the Noble Juntade Cabezuelas.

Source: http://bocyl.jcyl.es/boletines/2009/08/04/pdf/BOCYL-D-04082009-17.pdf

The municipal website [link unchanged] shows a drawing of the coat of arms. The Royal Spanish crown closed surmonting the shield is omitted in the official description of the arms.

The municipal flag and arms of La Lastrilla were officially unveiled on 20 August 2009, during the inauguration of the festival dedicated to St. John, the patron saint of the town. The symbols were unanimuously adopted by the Municipal Council on 26 May 2009, as one of the proposals made by the "Instituto Borbone de Heraldica Municipal" (Segovia).

The inauguration ceremony was reported by S. Cantalejo in "El Norte de Castilla." The flag was hoisted on the balcony of the town hall, near the flags of Spain and Castile and Léon, by the Mayor of La Lastrilla, assisted by the President of the Provincial Government of Segovia and the Territorial Delegate of the Government of Castile and Léon. On the photo of the event attached to the article, the flag does not look square but rectangular!

The article further says that the Municipal Council decided to adopt symbols since the town never had any since its secession from Segovia in 1830. The left part of the arms represent the biological and economical resources of the town. The right part is the emblem of the Noble Junta de Cabezuelas, recalling the mixed Christian and Muslim origin of the town.

Source: "El Norte de Castilla," 21 Aug 2009

The flag is shown on several photos available on the municipal website (for instance, gallery "Homenaje Concejales"), which confirms that the flag in use is rectangular and not square as officially prescribed.

Ivan Sache, 05 Sep 2009 and 18 Oct 2010