Etxebarria, located at the foot of Mount Kalamua (767 m) and crossed by the Urko river, occupies a natural area of narrow valleys and steep slopes that, at least since the Middle Ages, has represented one of the obligatory routes of transit to Gipuzkoa . Very little is known about the origins of the Etxebarria churchyard. Apparently, and towards the end of the 14th century, the lord of the solar house of Barroeta founded a parish dedicated to San Andrés Apóstol on the land he owned, known as Cartagoitia. However, there is no mention of this fact in the documentation of the time, nor any vestige that shows the date of its foundation.
The historic center has a medieval planning structured in three longitudinal streets and a corner block that unites them (Guenkalea, Erdikokalea and Kaleokerra- and a transverse street –Zeharkalea). The town was surrounded by a wall in which three gates were opened: those of Orueta, Irureta and Suso/Goiko.
The wall was the element that marked the difference between the town and the parish church: the town of an urban nature with a concentrated population and the parish of a rural nature with a scattered population. The wall gradually disappeared due to demographic pressure, so the town grew in the direction of its extreme neighborhoods – the suburbs. At each door a suburb would appear: Abesua’s at the door of Irureta; Artibai’s in that of Orueta; and Arriba/Goiko’s (Suso), today Karmengo Kalea, which began at the door of the same name.