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Turismo de Alcalá de Guadaíra

Algarrobo Mill

ONE OF THE MOST COMPLEX MILLS OF THE MILLER BANK

Algarrobo Mill belongs to the group of "River Mills", on the Guadaíra's urban bank. Technologically, it is a mill with a hydraulic wheel, in which water retained by a weir converges into the "buckets" or narrow spaces that contained the hydraulic wheels (in Spanish, rodeznos) that moved the stones which ground the grain.

Algarrobo Mill

There are no documentary references to Algarrobo mill previous to the 15th century, when its property by Sevillian monastery of St. Jerónimo de Buenavista is indicated. There are no archaeological indications also of a possible previous mill existence, neither from the Late Middle Ages nor Andalusí. The building that we can see at present time is set up from a great tower of square floor-plan crowned with a battlemented terrace roof. In its front parte, there is a porch, a room used like loading and downloading area of grain and flour. In the rear part of the tower, on the river stream, there are two consecutive grinding rooms, with a total of three stones. The weir connected the mill with the Guadaíra's right bank, damming water at the same time in order to generate hydraulic power. At this right bank La Caja (The Box) Mill was built, nowadays partially destroyed due to the construction of a flour factory in the 19th century.

Algarrobo Mill

The oldest part of the Algarrobo Mill is the tower, dated back from the 14th century according its building type; it is similar to other towers from the surroundings. It was not until the Modern Age when the grinding rooms were built, in order to replace the original ones from the Late Middle-Ages, probably destroyed after a flood. A singular detail stands out: the decorations with incisions and spikes motifs that can still be seen in the main grinding room. Finally, the porch belongs to the typology of constructions of the 19th century, being then one of the last additions to this building.

Algarrobo Mill

The Algarrobo Mill underwent an important process of recovery in 2003, when it was pretended to keep for every element of the mill their original appearance: (Visible) stone for the tower, plastering at the grinding rooms and whitewashing with red skirting board at the porch. In this way it is made evident to visitors in a visual way the different phases the mill has gone through, being possibly one of the most complex ones of Alcalá's miller bank.

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