tancades

Tancades is the plural feminine form of the Catalan noun tancat, meaning an enclosure, fence, or boundary. The term is used to describe physical barriers—such as stone walls, hedges, wooden fences, or gated enclosures—constructed to demarcate land, protect crops, or contain livestock. Etymologically derived from tancar, meaning to close or shut, tancades conveys the idea of closed or defined spaces in rural and urban settings.

Across Catalan-speaking regions, enclosures described as tancades appear in historical land records, farm documentation, and architectural descriptions. They can denote private parcels separated by boundary walls, or public or shared borders that mark property limits. In traditional agrarian landscapes, tancades contributed to the organization of fields and pastures, often forming the perimeter of a farmstead or the lines of cultivation within a larger estate.

In modern usage, the term remains descriptive rather than a fixed technical category; it may appear in real estate descriptions, heritage surveys, or discussions of rural geography. The singular tancat is sometimes used to refer to the fence or enclosure itself, while tancades refers to multiple such structures.

See also: enclosure, fence, hedgerow, boundary marker.