TIDAL MILL, "O POZO DO CACHÓN"

The tidal mill, or Pozo do Cachón, also known as A Ponte dos Muíños, is a magnificent work of industrial engineering dating from the second decade of the 19th century, and is one of the most important tidal mills in Europe. It was commissioned by D. Ignacio Pérez Bazarra, an idea that arose from the insufficiency of the existing river mills due to the increase in maize cultivation during the 18th century and the reduction in river flow during the summer.

It is located in the Ría de Muros.

The building can be said to have two floors. The lower floor housed the six water inlets with their corresponding sluice gates and tanks — four circular and two with a square upper section and circular lower section — with the front of this floor ending in four wide arches through which the water flowed out. The upper floor housed the millstones, a hearth, and also the miller's dwelling. Adjoining the main building is another of similar characteristics, fifty metres long, built by one of its owners, Abelardo Dubert, initially as a timber sawmill but soon converted into a bathhouse known as the "Baños de Santa Rita", specialising in the treatment of rheumatic ailments with seawater and seaweed, as well as a grain store and later a lobster pot store, among other uses.

The reservoir was irregular in shape, and its surface could exceed thirty thousand square metres. The reservoir was filled by opening all its sluice gates during spring tides, releasing the water at low tide through the mill channels. To keep the reservoir clean and with sufficient capacity, every two or three years the accumulated mud was removed by cart.

The decline in maize flour consumption and competition from electrically powered mills led to its eventual closure, though it remained in operation until the early 1950s.

In 1985, the idea of its restoration arose, beginning in 1990 in three phases. The works were completed in 1994, but in November of that same year, a flood destroyed part of the building and the bridge, necessitating a further phase of reconstruction, completed in 1999.

In 2004, a museum project was carried out thanks to the Provincial Council of A Coruña, integrating the Tidal Mill into a circuit of activities linked to cultural tourism, and it became the Interpretation Centre for the Mills of the Costa da Morte.

This Interpretation Centre opened its doors in April 2005.

In 2008, thanks to funding from the Provincial Council of A Coruña, the space was provided with animation staff, beginning a new chapter.