Culture and Industrial Heritage: The Villafría-Punta Arenilla Fish Cannery (Tejero Factory). Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Andalucía

Abstract

Located between Estero Domingo Rubio and Canal Padre Santo, adjacent to the Port of Palos de la Frontera in Huelva, from where the Caravels set sail, are the remains of one of the most important fish cannery factories on the Huelva coast: the Villafría-Punta Arenilla Factory, better known as the Tejero Factory, named after its sponsor, the Huelva entrepreneur and politician José Tejero González-Vizcaíno.

Although it began its history in 1910 as a salting and canning facility, it was not until 1928 that it obtained permission to build a pier or dock, and in 1939, the facilities were reformed to expand the range of products and preservation methods. Finally, in 1945, it was officially registered as the Fish Canning Factory in the Industry Department of that time. The factory had a positive impact on the local economy and the canning culture in the historic site of Villafría-Punta Arenilla, next to the 16th-century Almenara Tower of the same name. However, in 1980, the Tejero brand was transferred.

In 1987, the PEPMF_HU (Plan Especial de Protección del Medio Físico de Huelva) took advantage of the disappearance of the industrial use and classified the area as a Protected Natural Space. In 1995, the NNSS_PALOS FRONTERA (Normas Subsidiarias de Planeamiento de Palos de la Frontera) designated it as a General System of Free Spaces in Non-Urbanized Land, especially protected. Thus, the identity of the factory began to fade. In 2023, considering the state in which it is currently, it becomes necessary to promote awareness of this industrial heritage and the incorporation of its remains as cultural assets