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Juzcar Home | History
| What to See
by Chris Wawn and John Gill
Finca la Fabrica
This was the first site in Spain selected to manufacture tin plate. It was called after a rather cumbersome translation, ‘The never seen before in Spain Royal Tin and its Adherents Factory’. Set up under royal degree under Felipe V, its foundation was marked by a commemorative stone at the entrance to the site,.
Smelting commenced in 1731, thanks to the large surrounding forests, which produced carbon charcoal for the furnace. As iron and lead were also mined in the area, we can also presume tin came from the same source. The industrial site was situated at the junction of the two rivers, giving it ample water supply to power the bellows. Great heat was needed to smelt the ore and then roll it into tin plate.
At the time, it employed 200 workers and was a government monopoly. It had a research area which employed a further 30 technicians under the management of two Swiss engineers, Pedro Menron and Emerico Dupasquier. As tin smelting was a new process in Spain, outside assistance was required and the gentleman and their know-how were smuggled out of Germany in barrels, as the exportation of technology was forbidden, to protect the home industry. The government owned corporation used camels to move the finished tin plate to Madrid.
Much of the deforestation of the surrounding mountains probably occurred around this time. This is only now being replaced and the higher mountain peaks may one day have mature trees. After a time the wood would have grown scarce and, coupled with the rise of the industrial success of the Basques and Asturian corporations who used coal, the monopoly actually went bankrupt.
Las Mesas de Moclon
This can be found on the other side of the river from the old tin factory. Terracing and a fertile hollow confirm that this was the site of another deserted medieval community called Moclon. Situated on the old Estepona Real Canada, it had a population of 105 at the time of the military census of 1492. This had grown to 122 six years later and was considered large enough to have its own chapel (suggesting that it had previously possessed a mosque). In 1604 when the architect of Malaga Cathedral (Diaz de Palacios), visited the church he felt that it was beyond economic repair. It is probably around this stage that the church in Juzcar became a parish seat and the building was enlarged to accommodate its new status.
Though now depopulated except for
a few outlying fincas and the name left on the landscape, this area
by the river comes alive between 24-26 August of each year, when
the village celebrates its patron saint, the Virgen del Moclon.
This draws in visitors from the neighbouring areas and is the biggest
celebration in the year. Local tradition tells the story that a
young shepherd boy was in the area of Moclon, when he came across
a small statue. He picked it up as a souvenir and took it home as
a toy. The statue vanished before he got it home, and, after relocating
it, he reported that it disappeared again. On a fourth attempt,
he used it as target practice in frustration, cutting the face.
In later years when it underwent repairs for the damage, but returned
to the same condition and the damage can still be seen today.
These sites can be accessed from the
track leaving the MA517 at an unmarked junction (GPS 36* 37' 17"N
5* 10' 36"W Google
maps) between the villages of Júzcar and Farájan.
It continues on to join the Pujerra
- Jubrique track.
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