“Caritel that belongs to Caldelas and Caritel that belongs to Forzáns” written by the enlightened Father Sarmiento between the years 1754-1755. Verea Vella (old path) that followed Pazos, Ponte Caldelas and Pontevedra crossed this carballeira or oak tree grove. On November 29th 1890, the new parish was created under the patronage of St Mary. For centuries the oak tree groves were one of the most precious assets in the area. From those oak trees, wood was extracted to supply the construction of houses, used as beams for building, and the timber for making carts and furniture, etc. The newly cut branches were used to make baskets, vats, salt curing containers... and the acorns (their dried fruit, which appears in groups of 2 to 4 in the new shoots) fed the pigs. The common oak (Quercus robur) is a tree with a tall and wide crown that can reach 45 m in height. The trunk is very branched with a brown coloured bark. The leaves, dark green with a short petiole, are simple and lobed, 10-12 cm long and 8 cm wide. This autochthonous tree is the most common in all Galicia, especially in height at over 800 m. It blossoms from February to March and the pollination is aerial. It is common to find on the oak trees different formations -known popularly as galls or (cecidia)- produced by the reaction of the tree to different insects laying eggs.