Humo de Muro

El Humo de Muro is situated close to the Embalse de Mediano south of L'Ainsa. From L'Ainsa take the road to Campo and after 13 km turn right to Tierrantona. There straight-on towards Graus. You'll soon find the branch leading to Palo and Humo de Muro. The mill is situated in the barranco below the village. A dog repellent can come in handy.
The mill got its water from the Barranco de la Usía.

All pictures: 03.XI.1995 & 08.III.2005

(1) Red arrow points to the mill.

The mill is hidden between poplars. The humble construction had two rooms. The roof of the back-room collapsed already in 1995. At that time the room with the stone seat was still under roof and with tools in good condition. It would have cost almost nothing to preserve this mill. The money used to create the awful mini-zoo could have been better spent.

(2) The mill when we visited in 1995.

(3) The mill with collapsed roof in 2005.

The embalse is overgrown with shrubs. The size was quite impressive. You can appreciate the size by the length of the wall (5). Although I did try, I couldn't manage to reach the saetín (inlet).

In 2005, the workplace lay open under the sky with all the furnishings crushed under the weight of the roof and unprotected against the weather (4). We had met this mill in much better conditions in 1995 (7-10).

(4) The workplace without protection.

(5) Wall of the mill pond (embalse).

(6) Outlet of the cárcavo.

(7) Tolva, guardapolvo, farinal.

(8) Tolva.

(9) Cruz.

(10) Grua with cabra.

The workplace (back in 1995) housed one pair of stones in a cilindrical guardapolvo (7). The tolva stood in the center of the stones (8). At the foot of the milling seat stood a wooden box with a cross attached in one corner (7). The box is the farinal where the fresh flour was collected. The cross, or cruz was used to hang up the sacs to be filled with the meal (9).

Next to the milling seat stood the crane, or grua with cabra (10), which where used to lift the stones when maintenance was needed (picar las piedras, read more).

The second room is just visible in the background. I couldn't enter because it was a pile of rubbish in 1995 already. It is not impossible that the space housed another production unit because outside at the wall next to the embalse we discovered a small open channel starting from the reservoir (11) and continuing under the wall of this second room. A stone wheel mounted on a wooden axle (12) was lying against the same wall.