Culture

Old Iron Ore Mines

Although it is not known with certainty in which year the old iron ore mines of El Poyo del Cid began operating, it is assumed that they must have been opened between 1880 and 1890, and that they remained active, to a greater or lesser extent, until 1920.

The ore extracted from them was iron ore, which was removed by hand using picks and shovels and then carried outside the gallery in baskets. On occasions, when levels with harder rocks appeared, dynamite was used. In the vicinity of the entrance to one of the mines, there is still a gunpowder dump, a building that was used to store gunpowder. Most of the workers were local residents, although there is barely any further information available.

The product obtained was then carried in ox carts from the mine to the Caminreal railway station. At some point, the idea of building a railway linking El Poyo del Cid with the Caminreal station was raised, but the short mining period and the low profitability of the mines led to the project being scrapped.

There were five mines in total, with the one known as Mina del Carmen standing out, being the longest, with a large entrance, suggesting that it was originally an open-cast mine, until it was necessary to build galleries to follow the seams marking the location of the iron.

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