Litera/Lliterà

Molino de Ribera de Vall - entrance 1915

Litera is a small village in the Ribagorza region. It is easily reached from the main road between Benabarre and Puente Montañana (N230). Drop your vehicle at the entrance of the village and find the yellow with white markings of the hiking road PR HU-205 (Litera - Chiriveta). Walk the path and after about 1.5 km you will reach the mill known as Molino de Porta.

Pictures: 02.iv.2013

(1) Molino de Porta in Viacamp y Litera — overview

The mill is built next to the Barranco de las Ortogas (pict. 1, left) at a spot where a smaller tributary joins the main artery (coming from the right, pict. 1 front). As far as I could find out by exploring the surroundings it must be the smaller tributary which feeds the embalse (10).

The mill consists of two rooms with each its own entrance (2). Behind the wide entrance (2r) lies a square room which probably was kind of a storage space: the opening is far too wide to hold a door to a living room. The embalse lies against the wall at the back.

(2) Entrances; the workplace is left

(3) Incomplete dating: Año without number

The door at the left (2) opens into a long space which at the back (5) contains the mill proper. The first half, closest to the entrance, is about half as wide as the storage room. The second half, where the stones ran, is even narrower (4, 5).

Apart from a beam of the crane and a stone (5, 7) nothing could be found relating to the former activities. The runner is 30 cm thick and 130 cm wide. The pattern of the ridges is vague, but it looks like it was a harp dress with many fine curved ridges on the outer band.

(4) Situation of the workplace with barely enough room for the stones.

(5) Stone fills the space

The stone was mounted on a rynd with four arms (8). That is remarkable for this size of stone: two arms is current. We have seen another lavija with 4 arms on a pik-nik table in Mediano (Sobrarbe), but then on a much larger stone of ∅150 cm.

The roof of the cárcavo —empty— is formed by a flat arch (9) of rather big and regularly shaped stones superimposed by two arches more of protruding flat stones. These are probably remains of a much deeper cárcavo. I think that one day a flood took a huge bite from the mill. The walls facing the rivulet needed rebuilding but necessarily using much less space than before. That explains both the arches and the workspace which is barely wide enough.

(6) Cubo