Welcome
Welcome to the Virtual Tour of the El Pintado Tide Mill Eco-Museum. This facility is located in Ayamonte, in the heart of Estero de la Rivera, and is part of the Isla Cristina Wetlands Area of Natural Beauty in the province of Huelva. Here you’ll be able to discover the treasures of this area of natural beauty that forms part of the Network of Protected Natural Areas of Andalusia (RENPA).
At the centre you’ll find a reception area where visitors are welcomed, a gift shop where you have the opportunity to purchase products connected with the surrounding area, and a zone with information about the Network of Protected Natural Areas of Andalusia (RENPA), all together in a central space. The building also has a room for meetings, exhibitions and events, which is also where a video on the treasures of the Natural Area is screened. From the first floor and the rooftop terrace you can enjoy sweeping views of the wetlands.
The centre houses a permanent exhibition dedicated to the life of the wetlands, in particular the life of this tidal mill and its relationship with the immense biodiversity of the marshes, the gateway to the point where the Guadiana River flows out into the Atlantic Ocean.
In these links you can find more information about this Protected Natural Area with downloadable material such as the offer of trails, opening hours, how to get there, map with all the public use equipment, etc.
Ecomuseum Molino el Pintado: lajunta.es/3p0gp
Marismas de Isla Cristina Natural Park: lajunta.es/3sq8f
Complete your visit with ecotourism experiences with local companies. You can check the offer at the following link: ecoturismoandaluz.com
For activities aimed at the educational community, associations of people with functional diversity and local population, you can access through the link: reservatuvisita.ecoturismoandaluz.com
The Area of Natural Beauty and the wetlands
The Area of Natural Beauty is home to a distinctive wetland ecosystem where human intervention and the importance of nature as an economic resource continues to be a mainstay of the region's development.
Inland wetlands
The Area of Natural Beauty is permanently connected to the sea by the Carreras, La Plata and El Puerto rivers. The point where these waters meet gives rise to an exceptional wealth of life and nutrients. For this reason, this wetland area is a refuge for a wealth of flora and fauna that have cleverly adapted to the conditions of life here. At the same time, this flow of water and food allows the exploitation of the traditional wetlands and the more recent establishment of fish farms.
The tide mill. A young, dynamic coastline
Trawling and the sediments accumulated by the Guadiana and Carreras rivers, together with the easterly winds and currents coming in from the Atlantic reclaim new land from the sea: the wetlands. Together with the tides, these coastal dynamics create these new, distinctively unique places.
The usual characters
Sedentary birds, which are the most common and best known in these lands, fill the fields, canals, beaches and wetlands with life, highlighting the naturalness and importance of this coastal area.
A place to breed and to rest
Migratory birds are particularly important to these wetlands, where they find a perfect place to rest.
Wetland resources
The influence of the tides, appropriately managed, has made it possible to exploit the wetlands over the millennia for the purposes of fishing and the production of sea salt, traditions that still continue today. The technification of both processes has led to the development of marine aquaculture farms and industrial salt works.
Marine delicacies to be savoured and traded
The economic wealth generated by coastal fishing continues to be one of the mainstays of the region. Small-scale fishing has given way to factories and large canning firms that fish in distant waters and bring their catch back here.
In order to avoid overexploitation of the coastal fishing grounds and the depletion of shellfish resources, European directives recommend biological rest periods throughout the year.
A space for leisure
Tourism of all kinds, beach, nautical, inland, cultural, etc. has become the main activity in the coastal towns of Huelva. Swimming, walking, sailing, fishing, surfing, visiting towns and museums, are just a few of the activities that are possible on Andalusia’s “white coast£.
Sala de Molienda
The Sala de Molienda (Grinding Room) offers a historical journey, looking at the traditions of the mill itself and the miller’s trade, before going on to take a look at the basic components and processes involved in its operation.
Tide mills
The Age of Discovery boosted maritime trade and the demand for flour, which is why between the 16th and 18th centuries tide mills were built by the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, London, Brittany, Santander, Lisbon and Cadiz.
Mills constituted the first industrial revolution in Europe. They contributed to the development of human society, and tide mills were a clever way of harnessing the power of the tides.
Numerous mills like this one were established on Europe’s Atlantic coast. Countries such as Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Holland, Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain took advantage of the range of the tides to grind grain as well as to carry out other mechanised tasks. There came to be around a thousand in Europe, but with the advent of the Industrial Revolution they ceased to be profitable, and were abandoned in the mid-19th century.
The El Pintado tide mill
Dedicated to grinding, the mill used hydraulic mill technology to harness the power of the tides to move its grinding wheels. The founder was Manuel Rivero “El Pintado”, a prominent man from the town of Ayamonte whose nickname was a reference to the blemishes caused by smallpox when he was a child. “El Pintado” was from a modest family linked to trade with the Americas. He began his adventure at the age of 14, when he signed up as a cabin boy on one of the ships that sailed from Castile to Spain’s American colonies. Years later, he became one of the most important merchants of the 18th century Andalusian bourgeoisie. This prosperous “indiano”, as those who left for the Americas in search of fortune were known, managed to amass great wealth and to create a rich and varied heritage, like this mill.
Piedra ostionera (a type of porous sandstone) an expensive construction material
The El Pintado Mill was a very distinctive building in the area. Manuel Rivero used new and expensive materials such as piedra ostionera, which is predominant in the foundations and in other architectural features such as jambs, lintels, benches, parapets, etc.
Brown in colour, the piedra ostionera from the Gulf of Cadiz is formed by the hardened remains of seashells, sand and stones eroded by the sea. It’s very porous and rough, but at the same time easy to work with, and highly resistant to salt.
The tide mill
In order to function, all the components of the milling system need to be properly adjusted. The rotation of the impeller is only possible at low tide, taking advantage of the circulation of the water from the boiler inside the mill to the external canal:
- The alfanje, or base of the mill, which forms the structure on which two cylindrical grinding stones of equal diameter sit.
- The bed stone, the fixed lower stone, which is wide and compact for greater durability. The grooves are arranged in the opposite direction to those on the top stone, but are equal in number.
- The runner stone, the upper mobile stone is normally lighter than the fixed lower one. It is keyed to the shaft, and balanced with the wheel.
- The impeller is a circle of metal with holes in it that turns with the force of the water.
- The hopper is a silo that stores the wheat, all the time distributing the flow of grain between the two stones. Other elements: The cabria or axle used to support the hopper, the matting, the harinal, the relief screw, the canal gate, etc.
The millers’ craft
A high degree of skill and an ability to perform almost every task was indispensable in this ancient trade. Once the work of grinding was done, there were long periods between the tides that were used for maintenance, and for carrying out any necessary repair work on the various parts of the mill. For some repairs and certain specific procedures, very low tides were required.
Flour, white gold
A multimedia presentation recreates the role of the miller and his craft in detail, immersing the visitor in an experience which makes everything in the room suddenly seem to come to life again. You can see how at certain times of the day the mill became a bustling centre of activity. The miller was also accompanied by other important people such as his children or apprentices, as well as the usual pack animal, and his dog, who was in charge of keeping plagues of rodents at bay.
