Uncle Justo's mill
Next to the Castro, the old mill was rehabilitated which, until the middle of the 20th century, was performing an important social and economic function, grinding the wheat, rye and barley produced in the town. To retain and channel the water, they built a fishery that is now used as an access bridge to the fort. It is assumed that the date of these constructions could be the 15th or 16th century.
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The rehabilitation of the mill of Tío Justo allows to know the techniques traditionally used in the treatment of wheat. A completely handmade process and an engineering work at the same time. Its reconstruction and musealization, as well as the rehabilitation of the fishery and the construction of the Pocito Manzano viewpoint date from 2005, works that were completed with various indicators and interpretive panels of the mill, the flora, fauna and the landscape of the area.
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The mill is of the hydraulic type with a vertical axis, and originally it had two grinding machines that were activated by the force of the water retained in the fishery and guided by a channel to each of the rodeznos that transmitted it through a vertical axis to the flying wheel that when rotating was in charge of grinding the grain. The machinery that it currently has consists of two mills, an old one that simulates the original machinery, and another new and ready to work.
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Inside the mill there are a series of explanatory panels that complement the visit, as well as various accessories used in the process of grinding and "hauling" the grain.
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Wheat is one of the first cultivated vegetables and for many centuries it was the main food of Europe, hence its important cultural and symbolic role in our society. Its cultivation is so old that there are animal species that only live near it or its derivatives. The clearest example is the house sparrow or the house mouse, but also some of its hunters such as the white owl. It seems that it was in Egypt that flour was first fermented to obtain bread. Bread and food were named the same in Greek and Roman antiquity; both civilizations depended heavily on wheat and conquered new territories based on the production of this cereal.