Underground medieval water distribution network in a Spanish town

• Authors have investigated an underground water supply network of tunnels and cisterns located in the village of Alcudia de Crespins (Spain).
• The system, with one km of tunnels, provide water to houses in a village in East Spain. Until 1955 it was serving water to citizens.
• The network has medieval origin, linked with the supply of water to an old palace.
• Tunnels feed a public cistern and private cisterns located under city houses.
• It is an unusual (unique to our knowledge) example of water distribution system.

The city of Alcudia de Crespins, in the centre of the Valencia province (east of Spain), has an exceptional water distribution system that in the past served fresh water to many houses in the town. This system is formed by more than one km of tunnels and underground cisterns, and dates probably in the late medieval times, while it has been in use and suffering modifications until 1955. This paper presents the structure and characteristics of such exceptional system, and explains the functioning parameters of the infrastructure.

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