The town of Moclinejo stands on a small hill of the Piedras Blancas hills, open to the valley of the Benagalbón river. Its surroundings are typical of the Axarquía, with fissured hills which are mainly covered in olives, almonds, and vines, and thickets over the hardest slopes of the terrain. The town offers a pretty picture when you look at it from the road which ascends from the coast and snakes near it. From some parts of the town you can see the coast
through the corridor of the Benagalbón valley.
With the absence of documentation or vestiges from before the Arab rule which would prove the existance of settlements before this era, one has to think that Moclinejo is a Muslim foundation. As much the place as the name seem to point in this direction. Although the meaning of Moclinejo is not clear, it could have come from Moclín, as the people from this town in the province of Granada could have founded the town. In the chronicles from the 15th and 16th
century it appears as Moclinetum, Mohinete, Modinete, Molinete and even Molinillo.
In the lands of Moclinejo, the Christian troops of the captain general of Antequera, Don Pedro Enríquez, suffered a great defeat against the Muslims in 1482. The history points out that the Muslims had sought refuge in a castle on seeing their properties burned, however, they came out of hiding and threw rocks and tree trunks at their enemies. Such were the wounded of the Christian troops of Alonso de Aguilar, that there is a ravine in the district which from
then on is called the ‘Hoya de los Muertos’ Pit of the Dead.
The rest of the history is similar to all the area: Christian conquest, Muslim expulsion, economic climax with the grape production, crisis and collapse caused by Phyloxera and having to start all over again.
Places to visit
The most notable building is the church with its bell tower, as well as its arcades and Arabic mixture roofs. Near the town is the previously mentioned Hoya de los Muertos and the ‘Cuesta de la Matanza’ Killing hill. Both a reminder of the Christian soldier massacre.
