Quirós

Quirós is a council of the Principality of Asturias. It limits to the north with the councils of Santo Adriano and Morcín; to the south with the council of Lena and with the province of León; to the east with the councils of Riosa, Morcín and Lena and to the west with the councils of Proaza and Teverga.

Geography

Geographically, it is made up of two valleys: that of the Ricabo river, which rises in the shadow of Peña Cigal and is strengthened by the waters that flow from the Los Garrafes spring, and that of the Lindes, originated in the El Nacimiento spring, in the heart of Puerto Agüeria, very close to the former and the border with the province of León.

Both river courses unite in the place of Santa Marina (formerly Both Mestas), thus forming a single valley, wider and now called Quirós, which has numerous valleys on both sides through which the streams flow that feed the main stream. These small valleys abound in forests, meadows, farmland (much less than in the past) and there we find the main traces of human settlement, either in the villages or in farmhouses scattered across the broken terrain.

Landscape of the area

This is very mountainous (of the 208.80 km² area, 40% is over 1,200 meters high and only 3% has a slope of less than 20%), although the narrowness softens to a certain extent in the mountains. vegas de los ríos, emphasizing that of Noceo and Pontonga in Santa Marina, that of Arrojo and that of Las Agüeras. The towns (places, farmhouses) settle on the banks of the river or halfway up the slopes of the valleys. The capital, the town of Bárzana, Pola de Bárzana in ancient times, is in the center of the council, at the foot of the old Camino Real and the road we use today.

For legal and geographical purposes, the Quirós valley ends in the Entrepenas or Foces de Valdemurio, a narrow gorge between enormous limestone walls that is the gate and separation of the neighboring council of Proaza. It was precisely through this gorge that the road was laid out in the 1860s, thanks to the efforts of the Belgian engineer Gabriel Heim.

Important ridges separate the municipality from its neighbors, so we can say that it has well-defined limits. The Sierra de Tene stands out to the north, the pass of the old Camino Real de la Col.lá Aciera; to the east the Aramo, bordering with Riosa, Morcín and Lena; to the south the Ubiña massif, bordering Lena and the province of León, and to the west the Sobia massif and the Sierra del Gorrión, natural barriers with Teverga. Inside, the great Mount Roneiru stands out, which separates the parishes of Cienfuegos and Nimbra.

Regarding its geological characteristics, there is an abundance of limestone that we see appearing here and there in meadows and fields, and in mountains such as Peña Rueda (one of the most beautiful peaks in the Principality, a majestic natural pyramid 2,155 meters high), La Cigal.la (2,071 meters, with the famous Güertu'l Diablo, a refuge for chamois and roe deer), El Fontán (2,417 meters), the Peña de Alba (seat of the well-known Marian Sanctuary, with a popular pilgrimage on the 15th of August).

Demographics

In 1996 the Council had 1,541 inhabitants (908 men and 830 women) for an area of 208.79 km² and 63 population centers (including the Capital, Bárzana) between places and farmhouses.

The real number of residents is less than that of the Register since many people registered in it do not actually live in the council. The average age is high and most of the youth emigrated to the city for study or work. On the contrary, some retirees return to their birth towns to live permanently there.

Accesses

Quirós is reached by highways AS-229 (from Trubia, via Santo Adriano and Proaza) and AS-230 (Pola de Lena - Bárzana de Quirós, via Puerto de la Cobertoria). Both are currently undergoing extensive reform and expansion. The old aspiration of having direct access to the Plateau has materialized on the Trobaniello track, not recommended on rainy, snowy or foggy days. This track was originally going to be a state highway whose immediate conclusion was already demanded by Canella in the distant year 1902.

Parishes

The council is divided into 13 parishes that are detailed below together with their name in Asturian in parentheses.

• Arrojo
• Bárzana
• Bermiego
• Casares
• Cienfuegos
• The Agüeras
• Lindes
• Llanuces
• Muriellos
• Female
• Pedroveya
• Ricabo
• Balance

Economy

Economic activities, coal mining practically disappeared (a few years ago the open pit mines were closed) are limited to livestock: roxas cows, some sheep, goats, horses and poultry farmyard for own consumption. Agriculture is represented in small orchards for the service of families. Lately, the wood (chestnut and oak) very abundant in the area has been used.

There is an abundance of coal, although it is no longer mined today, and iron ore that was smelted at La Fábrica, in blast furnaces installed in the 1870s and that succumbed due to the great competition from the nascent Basque steel industry. Fluorspar, of great purity, is also present in the council, but it was never exploited industrially.

The ancient inhabitants of the area were aware of the mineral wealth of the subsoil, as witnessed by the prehistoric copper mines of Aramo, in which tools and human skulls were found in 1888, preserved today in the Archaeological Museum of Oviedo.

As in the rest of the region, water is an abundant element in the streams that quickly descend from the mountains to nourish the river. It is used industrially in the Valdemurio reservoir and in the Santa Marina and Las Agüeras mini-plants.

Tourism

Three decades ago rural tourism began in the area, with several hotel establishments. The first was the nucleus of Llanuces, in the Miranda palace, inspired by the well-known Hotel La Rectoral de Taramundi. Rural tourism houses have recently been opened in Cortes, Ricabo, San Salvador, Bermiego... There is also a hostel in the old schools of Arrojo for those looking for relatively cheap accommodation.

Many people come to the council to see the beautiful landscapes, architecture and traditional gastronomy, but tourism is not enough to sustain the weak local economy. With the mining monoculture gone, it is necessary to find a way so that people do not have to leave their native municipality, as up to now.

A long-awaited infrastructure is the total conditioning of the Senda del Oso (on the tracks of the old mining railway) to Santa Marina, so that cyclists and hikers reach the very heart of the council, crossing emblematic places such as Las Agüeras, Arrojo, La Fábrica (in front of the legendary castle of Alba), Bárzana, being able to continue the journey through the Alto de La Cobertoria, the Lindes valley or the Nimbra valley.

Bermiego is one of the most touristic towns, having a large concentration of granaries and an ancient tree, the famous yew, teixu or tenxo.

Livestock

In the heights there are communal pastures for cattle (Puerto Agüeria, El Aramo, Puerto de Villamarcel, etc.) used by the council cowboys, represented in the Livestock Board, although the frequent incursions of foreign cattle breeders (especially of Lena and Riosa) tend to cause frequent conflicts. By the heights we see beeches and some yew; halfway up the valley, meadows and deciduous forests (chestnuts, oaks, birches) –with some unfortunate "imports" of foreign pines– and in the lower zone crops alternate –in the river valleys and lands close to the towns– and meadows, with hazelnut and ash trees on the borders. The old curtains for growing corn and potatoes are just a memory in the minds of grandparents.

Demographic evolution

Thanks to the momentum achieved by the mining industry at the end of the 19th century, Quirós began the 20th century with a not inconsiderable number of 6,387 inhabitants, reaching its highest level in the 1920s with 6,594 inhabitants and a population density close to to 32 inhabitants/km². It is in the 1960s when the involutionary period of the population began, and it continues to this day, being the 1980s where this reduction has intensified the most, reaching a density of 8 inhabitants/km² at the moment.. All this presents us with completely unbalanced structures, showing a population pyramid where it can be seen that the majority of the population is over 40 years of age.

Regarding its economic activity, it must be said that in the Quirós council the primary sector and more specifically livestock farming exercises an overwhelming dominance in the economic field, employing 70.96% of the assets. The cattle herd oriented to meat production is the most represented in Quirós, its milk production being almost abandoned.

Regarding the secondary sector, we highlight the little or no contribution it offers to the area, currently occupying 3.51% of local jobs. It is necessary to point out here the attempts made to reopen some mining operations for their exploitation, such as those of Santa Marina.

The tertiary service sector occupies a total of 25.53% of the active population, the council being provided with basic services such as schools, medical offices, banks, etc. Lately they want to promote rural tourism, highlighting the works carried out in Llanuces destined for this purpose, in which various houses were rebuilt.

Administration and politics

In the council of Quirós, since 1979, the only parties that have won the mayoralty have been the PCE, which did so in the 1st and 2nd legislatures; and the PSOE, which has achieved it in all the others, with an absolute majority, until 2019. In this year, the IU wins the elections. The current mayor is Rodrigo Suárez who has governed since 2019 (See list of Mayors of Quirós).

History

In ancient times

There are very old testimonies of settlement in the area (Neolithic burial mounds and dolmens in La Cobertoria, copper mines in Aramo), as well as Roman and early medieval times (with numerous forts scattered throughout the territory, most without study still).

We have no news of caves with cave paintings or other human vestiges, although it is possible that there are sites similar to those of Teverga (shelters of Fresnedo) and Santo Adriano (cueva del Conde).

We do know of place names related to pre-Roman peoples, such as Aramo (name of a Gallic divinity) or the name Quirós itself, referring to rock or stony soil, or to an anthroponym. In neighboring lands there are also remains of gentile cults (Bendueños, in Lena, referring to the Celtic god Vindonius). Minor toponymy also presents archaic words:

• Alba: Alp- (white and high place)
• Candanosa: Kant-, Kand- (white thread)
• Cigal.la: Sek- (water, river flowing from the mountain)
• Navariegas: Nāwā- (honoured, plain between mountains)
• Salt: Salt (water current)
• Names of places or farms close to Villar de Cienfuegos.

Romanization and the Visigothic period

The trace of the Romans appears in place names (Cuañana, a name related to others such as Jomezana, Laviana, Mamorana, Parana, etc.; Nimbra or nemus-oris, "sacred forest") and on the Camín Real de la Mesa, once a Roman road to Puerto Ventana, although there is no evidence of the existence of notable settlements, despite the relative proximity to documented towns such as Mamorana in the council of Lena.

We have no news of the Visigothic period and the Muslim invasion, except for the discovery of remains in the village of Lindes, which are mentioned later, and the passage of a Moorish punitive expedition through Puerto Ventana and the Ricabo valley, according to Sánchez Albornoz.

Bishopric of Oviedo

From the time of the Asturian Monarchy until the 16th century, the Council belongs to the Bishopric of Oviedo, by virtue of royal donations (Ordoño I in 858, Alfonso III in 875). The episcopal power in the area was represented by the Bernaldo de Quirós family, whose site was the castle of Alba. His main palace was the Pedrero, in Las Agüeras, very close to the missing Valdemurio tower.

Constitution of the municipality

In the 16th century the council ceased to be the Bishop's Office (that is, property of the Church) to be owned by Realengo, since Felipe II bought it from Pope Gregory XIII. A few years later, as Canella recalls, the residents agreed to buy their freedom by paying the not inconsiderable sum of 12,000 maravedíes to the royal Treasury for each of the 394 and ½ (sic) residents that Quirós had. The payment was made between the years 1581-1587 and on November 6, 1587, the Monarch granted the Cédula de Libertad to the municipality, which constituted its own management bodies, in which the local nobility would continue to have a decisive influence.

On that date, the Town Hall was a castle or tower, of which there should be no material remains, although perhaps some memory or oral tradition about it survives among the residents. We do have references to two authors from the 19th century: In the Martínez Marina's Geographical-Historical Dictionary, an unfinished work, it says (approximately 1800):

The place of Bárzana, formerly called Pola de Bárzana, is located on the shore and eastern side of the River, and is the Capital of the Council, which has a high tower in it like a Castle that serves as a Prison, and attached to it a decent room where the elections of Offices of Justice are held and the City Council holds its Meetings (...)

On the other hand, in the Diccionario de Pascual Madoz, around 1850, it is said that the City Council meets in an "old and well-preserved castle".

This work disappeared when the roadbed was made in the middle of the XIX century (a short time later, therefore, of what Madoz writes) and was probably in the center of the town, more or less at the height of the small square where the public fountain is. It was replaced by the current Town Hall, which does not retain any memory of its predecessor or architectural elements of interest.

The council had its own representation in the General Board of the Principality of Asturias, the governing body of this region until the beginning of the 19th century, made up of attorneys from the different councils grouped into parties, one of which was called "de the Obispalía", as it is made up of the territories redeemed from episcopal domain (Proaza, Teverga, Quirós, Santo Adriano, among others).

18th and 19th centuries

There are no major events in the area, aside from those typical of the seasons and farm work, and the visit of someone like Jovellanos in 1792 on his way to Castilla, until the War of Independence, when the French invaders pass through Llanuces causing great damage and burning down the old Miranda family home, in the upper part of the village (the remains are still visible today).

In 1821, Melchor García Sampedro, a Dominican missionary martyred in Tonkin, province of Indochina (today Vietnam), who was beatified (1958) and later canonized (1988), was born in the village of Cortes.

The Carlist Wars also left their mark on the council, although it is no longer remembered today. In the first (1833-1839) the troops of Sanz, Gómez and Flórez crossed the council, and in the third (1872-1876) many young men from Quiros joined the Carlists.

Brief industrialization

During the 19th century and part of the 20th century, a timid industrialization took place, with iron and coal exploitations, which came to an end in the decade of 1960, time from which the massive depopulation of the Municipality takes place.

On July 20, 1870, the first blast furnace in the municipality was inaugurated with an initial production of 10 tons per day. The steel industry in those years needed to be located near the deposits of raw materials (iron, coal, limestone) in which the municipality was rich. This first blast furnace was a project promoted by the French engineers Gabriel Heim and Remigio Thiebaut. The second blast furnace was inaugurated on August 7, 1875. In 1877 both facilities were closed due to falling demand. In 1883 the second blast furnace was rebuilt again, later a third blast furnace was built to replace the second. The blast furnaces were kept in operation intermittently until 1908 when they were finally closed.

In line with this industrial development, a railway was projected to unite León and Asturias through Puerto Ventana and Quirós, reaching San Esteban de Pravia, but the idea failed to benefit the route by Pajares.

20th century

The Civil War did not bring decisive battles to these valleys, but it did bring various calamities in the form of deaths at the front and rear, persecutions for political reasons, hunger, fear and misery. There was a line of fortifications of the militiamen in Puerto Ventana and Agüeria, whose trenches and defensive works are still visible.

In 1958 Vicente José González García pointed out the following companies active in Quirós:

• FÁBRICA MIERES: Cienfuegos, Nimbra, La Fábrica (Carbon, iron)
• SOURCES AND COMPANY: Female (Carbon)
• MINAS DE XAGARÍN: San Salvador, Salcedo (Carbon)
• SOCIEDAD HULLERA SPANISH: Llanuces (Carbon)
• MINAS DE CORTES: Cortes (Carbon)

All of them disappeared in less than thirty years, although some mines survived until the eighties, integrated into the state company HUNOSA. As already mentioned, the thriving activity is livestock, tourism and other service activities.

Currently

The decrease in the population also entails the loss or reduction of certain facilities: the schools of the towns closed when the students concentrated in the "Virgen de Alba" Public School, in Bárzana, which in turn It has been closing classrooms at the same time as losing students. The two bakeries, with a long tradition in the area, also closed their doors. The many parish churches and chapels are cared for by a single priest. The movies and the dances of the town are a very distant memory.

However, the municipality still retains its Civil Guard Barracks, a tobacconist, the doctor's office and the public library. It recently moved into the former "Home of the Producer" a nursing home for the elderly, a palpable example of the situation in the area that does not require further comment.

Art

Church of San Pedro de Arrojo

The council of Quirós has witnessed millenary occupations as evidenced by the findings found in the Alto de la Cobertoria where a megalithic necropolis is located. Nearby, specifically in Prau Llagüezu, a stone burial mound was discovered with its funerary tomb in the center. Other historical vestiges of the same nature were found in La Mata del Casare (or Mata'l Casare) and in Los Fitos.

Within the religious architecture we have the church of San Pedro de Arrojo in Romanesque style with Gothic additions and wall paintings from the 16th century. The temple consists of a single nave and a circular apse whose well-squared ashlar rigging is unusual within the Asturian Romanesque style. The interior wall paintings represent Adam and Eve naked in front of the tree of good and evil.

We also highlight the parish church of Llanuces, a single-nave building with a gabled roof and a square presbytery with a barrel-vaulted roof. Its most significant element is the altarpiece of the Miranda Quirós family chapel with a high-quality sculpture of Christ.

Other outstanding churches are the Parish Church of San Esteban de Cienfuegos, larger, has a single nave, with a barrel vault for the nave and the presbytery and has an added chapel covered by a groin vault. Inside, there is an 18th century altarpiece organized in three niches and an attic.

In Bermiego we find the church of Santa María, which dates from the end of the 15th century. It presents a unique ship with a wooden deck. In Las Agüeras we must mention the Chapel of San Antonio from the 16th century and in Tene its parish church, very well preserved, preserving the gallery and the access stairs to it. Inside, we are presented with a Baroque-style main altarpiece from the 18th century.

Miranda-Quirós Palace in Llanuces

In terms of its civil architecture, we are talking about the Miranda Quirós Palace in Llanuces, with a rectangular floor plan and dating from the 16th century and subsequently renovated. It has two floors adapted to the unevenness of the terrain and irregular layout of the openings. The door has a wide voussoir that takes the form of a pointed arch.

In Agüera we find the Quirós palace with an initial tower from the 14th century and later additions that modify its appearance, giving the building a very interesting aspect. Another palace belonging to the Quirós family is found in Arrojo near its church and on whose façade there is a shield with the legend that reads “AFTER GOD, THE HOUSE OF QUIRÓS”. Buildings such as the Alba Castle and the medieval tower of Las Agüeras have now completely disappeared or their dilapidated state makes them difficult to see. Finally we must mention the house in Cortés of the only Asturian Saint, San Melchor de Quirós.

Personalities