Today we headed West to Mazarron. Our first stop was the mines of Mazarron.
The special deposits formed in this area were created by the eruption of two volcanoes, creating deposits that were mined first by the Romans, then a succession of cultures right up to present day. Mining created the vast wealth that lead to the explosion of housing in Cartagena and the up market villas of the wealthy in Alhama de Murcia, as well as providing employment for centuries in this area.
Many of the abandoned buildings have now fallen into disrepair.
The Romans mined this area extensively, creating more than 200 mines for iron, 100 for lead and silver, 5 for copper and 2 for alum. This last one was the most popular, and was much appreciated for fixing colours in the tanning process and in glass making. Most of the mines are situated in the Sierra de San Cristobal, at 186 meters. Around the mines are the remains of chimneys, the mine buildings, the mini castellated turrets, which were used up until the 1950s.
The countryside all around glows with a multitude of colours, due to the sulphurs of the extracted minerals and the waste generated in the extraction process. Also there is an extensive vein of red ochre, in the centre of which is the old factory which made alums and ochres, of its time, the only one in Spain.
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We ate lunch by the sea and in the afternoon visited the Bateria de Casillitos at Cabo Tiñoso. These two battery emplacements are well worth the visit along the hair-raising mountain-hugging roads. It takes a long time to travel the last 5 to 10 kms. They are a great place to take visitors, offering stunning views, interesting architecture and fabulous great guns.
They were constructed between 1926 and 1933 as part of a sophisticated defence network which aimed to protect Cartagena and its important military arsenal.
Forty-four elements covered every angle of attack and batteries were constructed in a ring which encircled Cartagena and cut along the coast as part of the Plan de Defensa of 1926.
The location of Cabo Tiñoso was chosen because of its strategic location, 218 metres above the sea on a rocky cliff with easily defendable access. The Vickers guns were made in the UK and at the time were the best in the world for anti-shipping defence.
There were two different batteries at Cabo Tiñoso. La Bateria de Jorel, which houses three 1923 model Vickers 152.4mm, 45 calibre anti-shipping guns, and the Bateria de Castillitos which has the enormous Vickers 381mm guns still in place, measuring 17m in length, capable of firing a projectile weighing a ton over a distance of 35km.
Part of the excitement of visiting the batteries is that these guns are still in-situ. The buildings have been tidied-up to some extent over recent years although the site wouldn’t pass muster with English Health and Safety! If you have kids, keep a close eye on them as there are many un-guarded drops and many of the buildings and maze of passageways are open to the public.
The big guns of Castillitos were only ever fired once in action against Nationalist forces in April 1937, but the knowledge of the havoc they could wreak was enough of a deterrent to ensure they were not required in further combat.
