Throughout the municipality of Villa de Mazo, traditional buildings survive as silent witnesses to the efforts of residents to adapt to the environment and make the most of its resources in a lasting way.
Examples of resilience and sustainability long before these words were used.
In Villa de Mazo, the traditional country house is a symbol of the daily history of La Palma. Built with volcanic stone, mud and heartwood, it is usually single-story, with thick walls and gabled or hipped tile roofs that regulate the temperature very well. The heartwood carpentry, present in doors, windows and ceilings, reflects the Portuguese influence that characterized a good part of the island’s architecture.
The interiors were sober but welcoming, with wooden floors, built-in cupboards and simple furniture. The kitchen was generally located in an attached or separate structure to reduce the risk of fire, and it was not uncommon to find traditional ovens. In two-story houses, the lower part was used as a warehouse or stable, with the upper floor for family life.
At the end of the 19th century, iron balconies, more elaborate windows and small decorative details from Europe and America began to be incorporated, which today coexist with the traditional structure. What especially defines these houses in Mazo is their integration with the agricultural landscape of the midlands: they sit on hillsides and are surrounded by orchards, vineyards and stone terraces.
Many have been restored with respect for the original materials to become rural accommodations, where visitors can experience the tranquility of the Palencia countryside: the aroma of old wood, the calm of the high nights and a life marked by the dialogue between the house, the land and the ocean.
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These enclosures are located on the beachfront, in areas such as Las Maretas, La Bajita, Las Salemeras and El Poris.
These were spaces where the mareteras families, displaced to the coast during the summer, toasted, sweetened and dried the chochos (lupins, legumes, edible seeds of the Lupinus plant, Fabaceae family) that the farmers gave them; they had simple houses, stoves, filtered water wells and drying areas facing south to take advantage of the sun and avoid the sea breeze.
After toasting the grain with firewood, it was soaked for a week in the wells and then spread out in the drying areas, stirring it several times a day for four or five days; once dry, it was taken to the mill to turn it into gofio.
Small square buildings with a rounded dome, opening and chimney, made of stone, mud and lime.
They were used to dry figs and prickly pears when the sun was not enough, heating them slowly with embers.
Other ovens, usually closer to the houses, were used for bread.
They are mainly preserved in the south (Malpaíses, Tiguerorte, Tigalate and Montes de Luna); many are in ruins and others have been restored.
Small cisterns dug into the rock, covered with lime and mud, which collected rainwater through channels from roofs, patios or roads and are located next to houses or wineries.
They were used to supply families and irrigate small crops; they are abundant in the southern area, where it rains less.
Many are still found, some in use and others abandoned, with wellheads, buckets and wooden frames.
Agricultural terraces that level the slopes and retain the soil by means of dry stone walls in order to cultivate on hillsides.
They are found throughout the municipality, from the coast to the midlands, and demonstrate the great human effort to take advantage of the badlands.
Although many have been abandoned since the 1960s, they make up the rural landscape together with traditional roads and walls.
The mills were built with the purpose of grinding the cereals that were cultivated in the town to make gofio, with the driving force of the wind. Some of the mills later incorporated engines, thus losing their dependence on the wind. At present, the buildings that remain standing have other uses.
This is the case of the Molino de Monte Pueblo, which has been restored and is well preserved. It housed a recreation center for aboriginal ceramics.
On the other hand, in the Pérez Guerra mill there was until recently a brandy distillery.
The rest of the mills are in worse condition, with only part of the frame of the Pérez Guerra mill and only some stones and gears of the Mateo Yanes mill remaining.
There is data on the presence of other mills that were destroyed for the construction of houses.
