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Escudo de muskiz Muskiz Town Council
San Juan, 2
48550 Muskiz (Bizkaia)
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  Home :: Muskiz :: Heritage :: Industrial architecture
 INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE
  El Pobal ForgeEl Pobal Forge

Romanesque Bridge of El PobalRomanesque Bridge of El Pobal

Kobaron Loading JettyKobaron Loading Jetty
 

El Pobal Forge
The forge stands next to the El Pobal tower-house, in an area known as Sorginleku (the place of the witches), crossed by the Lamiozingoerreka stream (the stream of the lamias' well). This type of water-driven forge was common in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It was renovated and rebuilt as the building we know today during the lifetime of the Marquis of Villarías, in the 13th century. It is said to have been from the fire at El Pobal that the flame was taken to light the first blast furnace installed in Baracaldo. The forge is built from masonry and contains: the waterworks, the forge and the iron ore stores. The drop hammer was powered by a water wheel, with a system of cams to raise the shaft of the hammer. As the cam turned, the head of the hammer fell back again, striking the molten iron at a rate of around 120 blows a minute. There is also a fan wheel. The hammer at El Pobal is particularly large: it weighs 360 kilos and sits on the end of a long shaft, made from an acacia trunk. The hatch regulates the flow of the wate. The fast-flowing jet is then diverted to strike the straight blades. The main installations consist of the forge, the nozzles, and, opposite the plate of the nozzle, the furnace where the smiths worked. Beside the door leading to the irons stores stand the smiths' tools: the anvil, the blade, the sieve, the grille, the tongs, the ladle for the lead, the clubs, etc.)

Romanesque Bridge of El Pobal
The bridge dates from the thirteenth century and stands at the entrance to the forge and El Pobal tower-house, on the Barbadún river. It is made from stone masonry, with two spans; one of these is still in good condition, but the other collapsed during the Carlist Wars in the 19th century, and was replaced by a flat concrete slab.

Kobaron Loading Jetty
Built at the end of the nineteenth century at the most westerly point on the coast of Bizkaia, this coastal loading jetty is supported on an ashlar-work pillar with metal arms extending out over the sea for filling the holds of ships with the ore brought in by rail.

This area is now called the Itxaslur Park and is one of the best recreational areas in the province. Visitors can walk along the old railway line amidst cliffs, river beds and hills. There are two ways of entering the park, one from Pobeña by means of 120 concrete steps built on the remains of the old inclined plane and the other from Kobaron.
 
   

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