El Caserío sobre La Fuente constituye un conjunto etnográfico de interés patrimonial situado en el término municipal de Granadilla de Abona, al este del casco urbano. El topónimo deriva de su emplazamiento, por encima de la Fuente del Lugar, en el barranco del mismo nombre; un punto de aprovisionamiento de agua que sirvió de acicate para la instalación del primer grupo humano en la zona y que, posteriormente, daría lugar al núcleo inicial de La Granadilla, cuya fundación se ha atribuido históricamente al portugués Gonzalo González Zarço en la primera mitad del siglo XVI, con mayoritaria presencia de compatriotas suyos.
No obstante, existe otra tradición que vincula el primer poblamiento humano con la construcción de la Ermita de Santa Lucía, en la parte alta del casco, y la génesis de un asentamiento incipiente junto al tramo del Barranco de la Fuente en el que esta se ubica.
El Caserío sobre La Fuente se fundaría en una fecha más tardía, aprovechando su proximidad a la Fuente del Lugar y al camino real que conecta con el Camino de Chasna, aunque no pueda precisarse la fecha del primer asentamiento, por carecer de datos históricos. Las construcciones que actualmente se conservan datan con seguridad del tránsito del siglo XIX al XX, aunque atendiendo a la práctica habitual en nuestra arquitectura
El Caserío sobre La Fuente is an ethnographic site of heritage interest located in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona, to the east of the town centre. The place name derives from its location above the Fuente del Lugar, in the ravine of the same name; a water supply point that served as an incentive for the installation of the first human group in the area and which would later give rise to the initial settlement of La Granadilla, whose foundation has been historically attributed to the Portuguese Gonzalo González Zarço in the first half of the 16th century, with a majority of his compatriots.
However, there is another tradition that links the first human settlement with the construction of the Chapel of Santa Lucía, in the upper part of the village, and the genesis of an incipient settlement next to the section of the Barranco de la Fuente ravine where it is located.
The hamlet above La Fuente was founded at a later date, taking advantage of its proximity to the Fuente del Lugar and the royal road that connects with the Camino de Chasna, although the date of the first settlement cannot be determined due to a lack of historical data. The constructions that are currently preserved date from the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, although in accordance with the usual practice in our traditional architecture of reusing and recovering constructive units and materials, it is very likely that they date back to the 18th century.
The farmhouse is made up of several single-storey rectangular dwellings in ordinary tosca masonry, basalt stone and mud mortar, with single and gabled Arab tile roofs, as well as outbuildings such as stables, tack rooms, gañanías and others, which show the same morphology and construction technique. The original carpentry of most of the buildings, characterised by their simplicity and traditional break-up, has been preserved in fair condition, as well as the frames of pars and hibrons that cover them, in many cases with hardly any carving work. The buildings are lined up on both sides of a cobbled road, like a main street, whose pavement - very old - is relatively well preserved.
Among the buildings, one of the most outstanding is a large, two-storey building, located at the western end of the farmhouse and used as a granary. The storage area on the first floor consists of a wooden balcony, with a boarded parapet and wooden pillars that support a roof that is a continuation of the main skirt. It is the most outstanding architectural feature of the complex and its façade opens onto a courtyard enclosed by a wall with a wooden doorway with two leaves and bearings. Associated with one of the houses, there is a rectangular fruit-drying oven with a flat roof, made of ordinary, unrendered masonry.
In the vicinity of the farmhouse and closely related to it, there is a set of traditional agricultural infrastructures that constitute a magnificent example of the agricultural uses that have historically developed in this area of the southern midlands of the island. There are up to three more ovens used for drying fruit, one of them with a double mouth, characterised by their vaulted roofs, cylindrical structure and original refractory clay lining. There is also a cistern of imprecise chronology that contributed to ensuring the water supply of the complex, as well as two threshing floors, which still have their original cobblestones and which were an essential element in the cultivation of cereals.
Other outstanding agricultural infrastructures are the various documented pastures, which were also used for the pasture of fruit, especially figs, both picos and milk figs. The farmhouse is surrounded by terraces and cultivation terraces that bear witness to the transformation of the terrazzo in these southern lands by means of the jable cultivation system, so that many of them are still in production and others preserve the jable mantle that favoured the development of traditional crops in this arid territory.
The hamlet was traditionally accessed by the royal road, known in this section as La Fuentita, which connects with the Camino Real de Chasna, the most important artery of communication between the north and south of the island. At the lower part of the road there is a branch that leads to the Fuente del Lugar fountain and continues towards the upper part of the town centre of Granadilla, where the Ermita de Santa Lucía hermitage is located. The path still conserves part of the traditional cobblestones and its box is delimited by dry stone walls, characteristic of this type of traditional communication route.
The Fuente del Lugar is a very important historical landmark in Granadilla, as it contributed to the first Castilian settlement in the area and possibly favoured the presence of the aborigines in earlier times. It has a masonry vessel, with an inscription indicating the year of its construction, 1859, as well as a conduit that carried the water from the spring to this point, which ends in a metal pipe.
The hamlet contains no associated movable property.
