The Monastery of Santa Clara in Moguer is one of the most important examples of the mudejar architecture in occidental Andalusia. It was founded in 1337 by Sir Alonso Jofre Tenorio, an Admiral from Castile and his wife Lady Elvira Álvarez. It was a donation from Alfonso XI in 1333. It was for Franciscan- Clarisa Nuns.
The monastery was built in a place next to the villa called “Santa Clara Country”, which was integrated in the urban area thanks to the new urban tendency from the end of the 15th century and the growth of demographic population. During centuries, it had influence on the social, economic, cultural and religious life of the region.
Their patrons, “Los Portocarrero”, were connected to it; in fact, some feminine members of this family became members of the monacal community and the conventual church was a family Pantheon.
The fame and prestige achieved by the monastery made it a point of reference between the 14th and 17th centuries which was a period of expansion for other monasteries of the same religious order in Andalusia. Sister Inés Enriquez with other two sisters left the monastery in Moguer to join Maria Coronel in the foundation of the Monastery of Santa Inés in Seville in 1374. She also helped in the reforms of the Santa Clara Monastery in Cordoba with Sister Catalina de Figueroa, Sister Isabel Pacheco and Sister María de Toledo, a daughter of the Counts of La Puebla, and they also reformed the monastery of Santa Clara in Jaén.
References:The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.
The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick.