Logbook · 4 places

Ironworks of San Blas

Sabero, La Montaña de Riaño, León

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones

Spain › Castile and León › León › La Montaña de Riaño › Sabero › Ironworks of San Blas

Ironworks of San Blas

Monument · Sabero, La Montaña de Riaño, León

Neo-Gothic building erected in 1847 to house the valley's ironworks; its cathedral-like nave is now home to the Museo de la Siderurgia y la Minería de Castilla y León, opened in July 2008. Built by the Sociedad Palentino-Leonesa de Minas, it was among the first coke blast furnaces in Spain, earlier than those of Trubia and Mieres, and was active between 1847 and 1862, when it closed due to tariff reform; its iron reached León, Palencia, Valladolid and Madrid. In 1880 the mines passed into Basque ownership, giving rise in 1892 to Hulleras de Sabero, which resumed operations thanks to the La Robla-Valmaseda railway, by then oriented towards the Bilbao steel market. The process combined the reduction of ore in coke blast furnaces with refining by puddling and trip hammer.

Photo: David Perez (CC BY 3.0)

What to see and do in Sabero