16-La Tenería (The Tannery)

La Tenería (The Tannery)

This site was originally used to tan hides, hence its name. However, this process produces a rather unpleasant smell, and being so close to the town, it was turned into a communal laundry instead.

La tenería consists of three pools of water where women came to wash their clothes, and it was still in use up until the beginning of the 20th century. When it was deemed no longer large enough for the town, a larger one was built a little further up the road at "Las Aguas" ('The Waters'), although this site remained open.

La tenería
La tenería

Communal laundries like that have traditionally always been a place for women to meet up and share news and gossip. This is where well-known Spanish sayings come from, such as "washing dirty rags" (meaning to criticise other people). People also used to say that "there were clothes hanging out" to warn that a person or their relative was within earshot.

La Tenería
La tenería

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