Snow Wells (Las Pozos de las Nieves)

One hundred years ago, in the parched, sun-baked southern region of Spain, there was an ice-making industry...!

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Dotted about on the higher slopes of the Sierra Espuña and in various other mountain ranges are a number of curious round constructions. Most are no longer fit to be described as buildings; most consist merely of a stone-built circle some fifty feet across and almost as deep. The local people call these structures “los pozos de las nieves” – and that is exactly what they are; they are snow wells.

The ice was made by gathering snow from the surrounding mountainside and packing it down hard inside the "wells". The shape of the building encouraged the wind to whistle through, keeping the hard-won stuff so cool that it was still solid in the middle of the following summer.

Getting the ice from the mountain top to the city was another story... It was cut out in blocks as big as a donkey could bear, but up to half of the volume was gone before the ice arrived at its destination.


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