- Region
- Águilas
- Alhama de Murcia
- Jumilla
- Lorca
- Los Alcázares
- Mazarrón
- San Javier
-
ALL AREAS & TOWNS
- AREAS
- SOUTH WEST
- MAR MENOR
- MURCIA CITY & CENTRAL
- NORTH & NORTH WEST
- TOWNS
- Abanilla
- Abarán
- Aguilas
- Alamillo
- Alcantarilla
- Aledo
- Alhama de Murcia
- Archena
- Balsicas
- Blanca
- Bolnuevo
- Bullas
- Cañadas del Romero
- Cabo de Palos
- Calasparra
- Camping Bolnuevo
- Campo De Ricote
- Camposol
- Canada De La Lena
- Caravaca de la Cruz
- Cartagena
- Cehegin
- Ceuti
- Cieza
- Condado de Alhama
- Corvera
- Costa Cálida
- Cuevas De Almanzora
- Cuevas de Reyllo
- El Carmoli
- El Mojon
- El Molino (Puerto Lumbreras)
- El Pareton / Cantareros
- El Raso
- El Valle Golf Resort
- Fortuna
- Fuente Alamo
- Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
- Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
- Isla Plana
- Islas Menores & Mar de Cristal
- Jumilla
- La Azohia
- La Charca
- La Manga Club
- La Manga del Mar Menor
- La Pinilla
- La Puebla
- La Torre
- La Torre Golf Resort
- La Unión
- Las Palas
- Las Ramblas
- Las Ramblas Golf
- Las Torres de Cotillas
- Leiva
- Librilla
- Lo Pagan
- Lo Santiago
- Lorca
- Lorquí
- Los Alcázares
- Los Balcones
- Los Belones
- Los Canovas
- Los Nietos
- Los Perez (Tallante)
- Los Urrutias
- Los Ventorrillos
- Mar De Cristal
- Mar Menor
- Mar Menor Golf Resort
- Mazarrón
- Mazarrón Country Club
- Molina de Segura
- Moratalla
- Mula
- Murcia City
- Murcia Property
- Pareton
- Peraleja Golf Resort
- Perin
- Pilar de la Horadada
- Pinar de Campoverde
- Pinoso
- Playa Honda
- Playa Honda / Playa Paraíso
- Pliego
- Portmán
- Pozo Estrecho
- Puerto de Mazarrón
- Puerto Lumbreras
- Puntas De Calnegre
- Region of Murcia
- Ricote
- Roda Golf Resort
- Roldan
- Roldan and Lo Ferro
- San Javier
- San Pedro del Pinatar
- Santiago de la Ribera
- Sierra Espuña
- Sucina
- Tallante
- Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
- Torre Pacheco
- Totana
- What's On Weekly Bulletin
- Yecla
- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Alicante Today Andalucia Today
ARCHIVED - Major restoration of the Embarcadero de Hornillo in Águilas set to begin this year
The emblematic jetty is a monument to British engineering dating from 1903
Restoration of the Embarcadero del Hornillo, the iconic loading jetty which was built by British engineers in the first years of the 20th century to facilitate the export of minerals from Águilas in the south-west of the Region of Murcia, will begin later this year, according to the local Mayoress, with the contract to draw up the works project having been awarded to a company based in Madrid called Ines Ingenieros Consultores.
Mayoress Mari Carmen Moreno explains that the project will be sent to the Ministry of Development, and that as soon as it is approved the works contract itself will be put out to tender. At the same time, funding has been requested for a second phase of restoration work on the jetty, which is generally considered to be the second most important of its kind in Spain.
The subsidy granted by the Ministry for the initial phase of restoration amounts to 750,000 euros, to be complemented by another 250,000 euros from the Town Hall, and this will be spent on the part the jetty which is closest to the shore as this is the section which has been worst affected by erosion (although the forces of nature have been helped in this respect by the neglect shown by the authorities over the decades). Once this phase has been completed the intention is to open part of the jetty to visitors while work continues on other sections.
This restoration work on the Embarcadero del Hornillo forms part of a wider overall project to recover the huge cultural, natural, industrial and ethnographic heritage of the area around the Isla del Fraile and the whole of the bay of Hornillo. The project is a long-term one, but eventually it is envisaged that boat tours of the area will leave from the jetty itself and take visitors to the island, where they will be able to see the archaeological sites which are still being investigated.
The Embarcadero del Hornillo was designed by Gustavo Gillman and was built in order to facilitate the export of larger volumes of ores mined in the Sierra de los Filambres in Granada. It was brought into service in 1903 and was linked by rail to the Águilas station on the opposite site of the rambla via a substantial viaduct.
The jetty was built entirely of steel and concrete and was able to serve two ships at a time. It is 178 metres long and stands 12 metres high and remained in service until the last mineral transport ship was loaded in 1970.
In 2009 the Embarcadero was declared an Item of Cultural Interest, adding to a list of such monuments in Águilas which also includes the castle of Los Chuecos, the castle of Tébar, the castle of San Juan de Águilas in the centre of the town, the Casino and the 16th-century watchtower of Torre de Cope.