
As seen on 16/10/2024 CE
As seen on 16/10/2024 CE
As seen on 16/10/2024 CE
The back wall of the house
The view from the house, back across the fields to the talaiot
What appears to be an entrance from the road has been blocked; the second talaiot is visible in the background
The crumbling remains of the second talaiot
The remains of a house listed in TME as a possible sanctuary, a field away from the talaiots at Torrellonet
I used the Menorca Tour and Trail 1:40,000 map and found it perfectly adequate to find all the sites I wanted to see.
This Talaiot is the tallest on all Menorca so I could see the tower from many different places as I approached. Parking is ample down the road but nearer the tower the road thins severely, but if you tuck into the side of the road there’s just enough room for 1 or 2 cars.
Dont be tempted to climb the wall even where there is pokey out stones stepping over the wall, go towards the house and theres a gate. The Talaiot is in a modern walled area with several deep rock pits for water storage, and remains of buildings at the towers feet and an access ramp winding round the tower, but it doesn’t go all the way round and in through the doorway at the top, go round the other side it’s much easier to get up. There is an ugly concrete thing on top with an arial of some kind poking out the top, something to do with the airport I think.
Taken from..Archaeological Itinerary around Menorca
“...Those boulders in the large Talayot of Torello...measure 2 metres in length by 1 in width and are 0.40 thick, representing an approximate weight of two thousand kilograms.”
Pedro Riudavets y Tudury
History of the Island of Menorca (1891)
There’s a second, ruinous talaiot just behind the impressive one at Torrellonet. The site marked by a blue menorca monumental sign, but what appears to be an entrance has been blocked, or repaired! Round the back of the main talaiot, there were a couple of silos with added junk.
We thought we’d be polite and ask at the farm if it was OK to cross the fields opposite and check out the remains of a house, listed as a possible sanctuary in TME; it seemed the only word we had in common with the elderly lady in the farmyard was “Torrello” but we guessed she’d got the gist of what we wanted and wouldn’t mind us going ahead.
Recommendation: instead of taking the direct route to the house, over some wobbly walls, go to the left and keep the copse on your right – there’s gates!
Torrellonet (see page 322 of TME) is one of many talaiot towers on Menorca. They occupy positions of height or view and almost everywhere you look on Menorca, you can see one of these on the horizon.
Torrellonet is a really nice example of a talaiot as it is still tall with intact walls, is uncovered by vegetation, is easy to climb and has great views of the runway, so you can watch the aircraft coming and going. Fab. Ancient and modern engineering simultaneously.
From here we could see Talati de Dalt talaiot and others rising through the trees as well as the remains of a prehistoric house two field away.