Cueva del Hierro

A village named after its mine

Cueva del Hierro lies in the Serranía Alta, on the edge of the Natural Park, 3.6 km as the crow flies from Beteta. The name is the trade: the Roman mine of Cueva del Hierro (the name means «iron cave») was worked from Roman times until the 20th century, and is one of the most important pieces of industrial heritage in the province. The paths that lead to it are the old paths of the workings. In the small mountain village stands the church, which Turismo de Castilla-La Mancha gives as San Sebastián and Mansiegona as the Inmaculada Concepción. It is a village of hard winters.

The mine today

The mine has a museum and a guided caving visit inside the gallery. It is demanding: some stretches are passed crawling and there are no walkways.

Centuries of iron

In the Serranía there were ironworks beside the rivers: at Vadillos stood the one old documents call «Ebadillo», and not far from Masegosa there are place names such as the Puente del Martinete (trip-hammer bridge), the Collado del Escorial (slag-heap pass) or the Herrería de El Tobar (El Tobar forge). A lawsuit of 1632, between Carlos de Arellano, a knight of Santiago, and Juan de la Riva, tells how a man from Beteta discovered ore at Cabeza de Catalán, and mentions the mines of Cueva del Hierro as a source of that iron. In 1922 an engineer from Valencia applied for 46 mining claims at the site of Alto del Cementerio, under the names Ampliación San Gil and Alkartasuna; the ore probably went out by mule to the Sierra Menera mining railway.

The last attempt was the Ana María mine, which supplied the blast furnace at Beteta. It was begun with pick and shovel, bringing the ore out with donkeys, and in February 1961 it was mechanised with rails, an incline, wagons hauled by a winch and compressed-air drills. Output was estimated at 24,000 tonnes a year. The furnace closed a few months later, but the company was still paying the mine’s tax in 1963. The manganese oxide in the ore is what stains the flowstone and stalactites of the gallery black.

Routes

The PR-CU 94 climbs in 2.5 km to Cerro Juez, 1,543 metres, the roof of the municipality. It passes a tile works restored as a hostel, follows the edge of a limestone ledge and reaches the summit, with remains of stock folds sheltered by the rock and views over the village and the lands of the former Señorío de Molina.

The climb shows how the hillside was used. Among the fields is the fuente del Prado Somero, which is not a built fountain but a spring that soaks the meadow; its water irrigated the cerras, vegetable plots enclosed by stone walls that protected them from animals and a little from the cold. The tejera (tile works) keeps its building and, beside it, the kiln, large, round and complete, with a spring alongside where the clay was wetted. Up above, sheltered by the limestone ledge, are the majadas where livestock were kept. The pine forest mixes black pine and Scots pine with wild roses, hawthorns and junipers, and there are red deer, wild boar and signs of badger, genet and stone marten. From the summit you can see the gorge of the Guadiela towards Beteta, Masegosa, Lagunaseca and the lands of Molina.

The church, a castle and San Antón

The church of the Inmaculada Concepción stands on its own in the square, with a long, horizontal façade, a round-arched door with large voussoirs and a very wide bell gable in the Herrerian style. Inside there is a beam with corbels, the last trace of the coffered ceiling of the earlier church. Of the castle of Regarcedas, in the municipality, little more than the name remains. Near the source of the Guadiela there was a hermitage of San Antón de Pinilla, to which people went on pilgrimage on 17 January; until a few years ago its ruins could still be seen.

Plan your visit

The village, the mine and Cerro Juez fit into a morning. The trail is short but climbs without a break.

Before you travel

Book the mine visit and ask about the conditions. Do not go in outside the visit: there are shafts and galleries. In winter Cerro Juez is cold and windy.

Combine with

Beteta is 3.6 km away as the crow flies, Masegosa 4.1 and Valsalobre 6.2.