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The founding of the Royal Site of San Fernando

San Fernando de Henares, Área Metropolitana, Madrid

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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The founding of the Royal Site of San Fernando

Historical milestone · San Fernando de Henares, Área Metropolitana, Madrid

Image of San Fernando de Henares, not of the place itself.

The crown bought the depopulated hamlet of Torrejón de la Ribera in 1746, an acquisition approved by royal decree of Philip V on 29 June of that year, in order to install there a Real Fábrica de Paños (royal cloth factory) meant to reduce Spain's dependence on foreign textiles, together with a newly founded settlement. Ferdinand VI took possession of the Real Sitio on 30 August and appointed as governor Teodoro Ventura de Argumosa, who was familiar with modern European textile techniques. The factory building, bearing an inscription recording the year of its completion, was finished in 1748, facing a uniformly laid-out square with thirty-two brick houses, today's Plaza de España. The factory, not very productive, was moved to Vicálvaro in 1753, although the warehouses remained in San Fernando.

1746

Photo: Luisangelzas (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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