Panoramic view of Ardales with the castle in the background

There was relative peace during the final years of the 14th century, but hostilities began again in the beginning of the following century with the weakness of the Moorish kingdom encouraging the Christians to lay siege to Ardales once again. It was re-conquered in 1433, along with the frontier posts at Turón and Iznájar, but passed into Moorish hands again in 1447. The final Christian conquest by the governor Teba, Juan Ramírez de Guzmán, was successful in 1453 or 1454 after the inhabitants had fled, and the town was incorporated later into the condado (county) of Teba. The first historical image we have of the Ardales fortress is an engraving made by J. Hoefnagle, part of the Civitatis Orbis Terrarum, in 1564. In this one can see the peak of the Peña, along with various buildings and a farmhouse on the slopes. One also see the large irrigation channel built between the 15th and 16th centuries, to bring water from the nearby Alcaparaín mountains to the base of the fortress. Part of the double wall of this construction still remains, with modern houses now built over it. There also exist in our time two walled areas of the castle. The outside area follows the lie of the land, making for an irregular shape. The entrance is through a curved doorway located behind the church, of which some parts remain. The square living area is situated on the upper slopes of the hill, and has a tower at each corner. It was here that the Christians settled after the final re-conquest. A total of nine towers still exist, all around the perimeter of the hill, although there were probably more originally. One of these, perhaps by way of homage, gives out over the north east. There are no visible remains of the Emirate occupation of this place, since the remains we actually see date from different Nazeri and Christian periods. The walls are made of rubble, and one of the corners is fortified with rectangular blocks of stone.
Church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios
The building of the church was instigated by the aforementioned D. Juan Ramírez de Guzmán after the definitive re-conquest of the town and work on the Mudejar-style building finished at the end of the 15th century. At the beginning of the 17th century it was found to be in a bad condition and was reconstructed in 1720, conserving the original Mudejar style. The new church was similar in style to many of the religious structures in Seville at the time, and it became part of the Malaga diocese in 1833. Further work on the building was carried out in the 19th century, without any great structural changes.

The church is situated close to the fortress in Ardales, and was built with three naves separated by thick columns on square bases. The chapels are rectangular in shape, with arches reaching out and upwards. These are all elements of typical Mudejar architecture, as are the nave ceilings, the central framework on these ceilings and the lateral naves. The presbytery is square, with a octagonal Baroque vault separated from the central nave by a huge pointed main arch. There is a neo-classical tabernacle inside with the image of the Virgen de Villaverde in polychromed wood. The side chapels were built in the 18th century, and are vaulted and dedicated to the Virgen del Rosario and the Cristo de la Sangre, a curious piece of artwork that was put together in 1944 from three different pieces that had been destroyed in the Civil War. The other chapels along the lateral naves were also built in the 18th century, the most interesting being that of San Isidro, built in 1783 to enlarge the actual church itself. This has a square base and is vaulted in a semi-spherical scallop design. At the end there is a semicircular arch that opens out onto a polygonal room. The chapel is highly decorated in gesso, and beside it is the sacristy, a vaulted rectangular room that links to the main altar by a passageway. The elevated choir was built in the 18th century also. On the outside one sees the brick entrance with its semicircular arch framing pillars that support the top, where we can read an inscription from 1723. On top of this there is a semicircular pediment opening out on a niche and crowned with another curved pediment with a small opening, over which there is a triangular pediment holding a cross. The entrance has been attributed to the Seville architect Diego Antonio Díaz , who worked at that time in the diocese of Seville. More of his work in Seville itself, like the door of the Convent of Santa Rosalía, is of a similar style to that of Ardales. Beside the entrance there is a square brick tower, possibly built at the end of the 18th century by Antonio Matías de Figueroa, master builder of the Cabildo Eclesiástico in Seville, and who worked on the door of the neighbouring Campillos church as well. The tower seems to be part of an earlier construction, having a simple facade both inside and out. Any decoration there is can be seen at the top of the structure, roofed in green tiles and topped by a small octagonal shape covered in more green tiles.