Geographic dispersion in the Iberian Peninsula
Contenido
El hórreo fue una construcción auxiliar indispensable en la vida campesina del norte húmedo peninsular y en pleno uso hasta la llegada de la crisis del sistema agrario tradicional. Su buena adecuación a unas necesidades climáticas muy específicas hizo que fuera adoptado en áreas muy diferentes del norte húmedo, con ciertas adaptaciones formales según las zonas.
De este modo, aunque bajo diferentes denominaciones y tipologías, encontramos hórreos en Galicia, norte de Portugal, Asturias, León, Zamora, Cantabria, País Vasco y Navarra. En 2018 se contabilizaron en Galicia cerca de 30 000 hórreos, otros 30 000 en Asturias,[14] unos 400 en León, unos 30 en Cantabria, unos 20 en Navarra y cantidades casi testimoniales en el País Vasco y Zamora, además de un número indeterminado de espigueiros en Portugal y de una cantidad también desconocida de cabazos móviles vegetales en Galicia.[15].
Las peculiaridades de la estructura de la propiedad de la tierra y la dispersión de la población permitieron que el hórreo mantuviera su razón de ser sobre todo en Asturias, Galicia y norte de Portugal.[16] El área de convivencia del hórreo tipo asturiano con el tipo gallego-portugués tiene su límite oriental en el río Barayo, en correspondencia directa con la estructura geológica subyacente, conocida como «Cabalgamiento de Barayo». El límite occidental de esta área no está estudiado con detalle, pero abarca sectores de la sierra del Caurel.[17].
El conjunto de los rasgos particulares, como son la existencia o carencia de corredor&action=edit&redlink=1 "Corredor (hórreo) (aún no redactado)"), la escala de sus elementos, los materiales empleados o su decoración, informan no solo del poder económico del usuario o de la productividad de las tierras, sino también del espacio en el que el hórreo está ubicado, de su cronología y muchas veces de su constructor.[3] El corredor en los hórreos es, como resultado, una adición del siglo que responde a una nueva necesidad de almacenar productos no autóctonos para los que el hórreo no estaba acondicionado y que suponían nuevos métodos agrícolas y la necesidad de adaptarse.
En la zona norte de la península ibérica se distinguen tres grandes grupos: el gallego-portugués, presente en Galicia y norte de Portugal; el astur-leonés, en Asturias, León, Zamora y Palencia; y el pirenáico-montañés, en Cantabria, País Vasco y Navarra.[10].
Galician granary
The use of the granary extends throughout Galicia, with the sole exception of some areas of the neighboring southeast. It is also used, without major formal variations, in western Asturias and in the Portuguese region of Miño, where it is known as espigueiro, canastro or caniço. In Galicia it receives different names depending on the area: hórreo or hórrio in the central-north, cabazo in the northwest of La Coruña, cabozo in the north of Lugo, canastro in the southern area, more rarely canasto, cabaceiro between the center and the northeast of Orense, the same in the same direction in Lugo, but mixed with more closed forms (cabeceiro, cabeceira, cabaceira), canizo between the Vigo estuary and the Miño river, piorno in the Salnés, cabana further inland, paneira in the Morrazo, orno or órneo in the Morrazo cape, hórreo or horro those of the Asturian type in the east of Lugo, and other minor appellations extension.[18][19][20].
It is a small, oblong building with a rectangular floor plan with a gabled roof and a small bay "Crujía (architecture)"). Its dimensions, materials and the elements used in its construction are very varied, although always within the usual list in popular architecture: stonework or masonry, chestnut wood, ceramic tile roof, slate slab "Slate (rock)") or rye hill.
There is a less elaborate typology that includes small light barns called cabazos, formed by a body of branches or woven wickers, covered by a small cone of broom or colmo. In the Caurel areas, the Asturian-type granary is used more, sometimes with a rye top cover, and usually small in size. In the coastal area there is another less widespread typology, known as hórrea, which differs from the hórreo in its greater width, in the interior distribution in a central corridor and side chambers and in using triples of feet instead of pairs.
The longest granary in Galicia is that of Araño (Rianjo) with 37.05 m in length,[21][22] the tallest rises to eight and a half meters, the hórrea with the largest capacity is located in Poyo, it has an interior volume of 123.25 m³ and stands on 51 feet, and, although they are traditionally rectangular in plan, there are square, round, L-shaped granaries and to an octagonal one, in Fonsagrada.[23].
Asturian granary
In the Principality of Asturias, some 30,000 granaries are preserved, in better or worse condition. There are two main types of granaries in Asturias. One, the one properly known as hórreo (also called hórrio, horru or horro), is the most widespread, being square in plan with a wooden chamber, often with a corridor, which is generally supported on four feet, or pegollos. In Asturias the use of the granary was exclusive to the wealthiest classes, but it proliferated from the Renaissance period onwards, due to the increase in land production.
The second big type is the panera. The first documents about them are from the second half of the century, their development in the century being favored by the spread of corn. The panera is an evolution of the hórreo, whose plan increases in size and longitudinally until it becomes noticeably rectangular. This modification involves structural changes. The most striking are that the pegollos increase in number to support the new, more elongated plant, and the roof is finished with a ridge beam, remaining hipped but "in scissors." It was already in the century when the exterior corridors were incorporated.[24][25] This means that large bread baskets are found, especially close to the coast.
Within the Asturian hórreos there are several subgroups depending on their structure and decoration: Villaviciosa style (the oldest), the Allande style and the Carreño style (names of the municipalities where the most examples are preserved). A particular style is the hórreo beyusco, a typology extended only in the council of Ponga.[26].
In the Eo-Navia area and in the southwest of Asturias, in the northeastern area of Galicia and in part of the northern regions of El Bierzo and the rest of the province of León, a typological variant of Asturian-type granary is preserved, characterized by the use of vegetal roofs, that is, an older type than those of tile or slab. Documentary sources show that in the past its extension was much wider, throughout the Asturian geography, but the improvement in technique caused it to be replaced by roofs made of more durable materials. Its formal peculiarity lies in the lack of a corridor, in the small size, in the low interior free height and in the vegetal cover, which can be made with rye or wheat, or with broom, heather or carquesa.[27].
The difference between a hórreo and a panera does not lie in the number of pegoyus, but rather depends on the plant. If it is square (hórreo) or rectangular (panera), and therefore the roof, if it is hipped and with a ridge (hórreo) or scissor (the sides will be equal "two by two") with two ridges (panera).[28].
Leonese granary
The Leonese granary consists of a wooden chamber on oak or stone feet, called pegoyos, crowned by tornarratos, called solaneras. It lacks an exterior corridor and its roof is made of straw, tile or gabled slate slab.
In Las Bodas, municipality of Boñar, there is a wooden granary dating back to the 19th century.[29].
There are also some in Asturias (there called "hórreos beyuscos").[30] In the province of Palencia there are no native hórreos although there is evidence that there were in the past in the northern area.[31]
Frankowski explains that its form and function do not differ much from those of the Asturian.[6].
Cantabrian granary
Today only a few granaries remain in the Cantabrian valleys of Pido, Las Ilces, Espinama, Cabuérniga, Herrerías, and Polaciones, although it is believed that in the past it was present throughout all of Cantabria. Mention is made of Cantabrian granaries in various documents from the 1st century onwards. It is a wooden building with a quadrangular floor plan that consists of a chamber that rests on four oak supports or pegoyos and is covered with an Arabic tile roof, in some areas with hips (like the Asturian) and in others with two (like the Leonese).
The survival of a single example suggests the existence in the past of a third type, called panera, which is distinguished by having a rectangular floor plan and six or more feet, similar to the Asturian one.[16] The possession of this type of granary was always linked to large houses and monasteries, until in the century it began to become more abundant and as a result of the introduction of this cereal the need to dry the grain was satisfied by the appearance of the solana as an architectural element of the house and made possible due to the greater continentality of the region's climate.[33].
Basque granary
Mention is made of hórreos in Vizcaya in various documents from the 19th century onwards,[8] more or less the time in which they must have stopped being built.[5] It is called garaia, with its variants gereixa and garaya, although there are also dialect forms such as arnaga.[34] They consist of a rectangular wooden chamber on four or six feet of stone or wood with tornarratos (plates located between the pillars and the granary, the purpose of which is to prevent small rodents from accessing its interior). Its use is multiple, it is divided into three rooms and it does not have a corridor on the façade, but it does have a small overhang that flies into the pinches of the walls. The largest ones have a gable roof and the smallest ones have a four-story roof. They stopped being built in the 10th century.[6].
The change that took place in the 19th century, when houses were built from wood to stone to avoid fires, made it possible to fit out fayados suitable as granaries. At the same time, the agrarian system changed its cereal specialization towards an intensive livestock orientation, which produced a transformation of the corn fields into pastures "Pasture (livestock)"). Furthermore, progressive deforestation made construction with wood difficult. These changes made the need for specialized granaries for corn conservation disappear.[7].
Navarrese granary
They are the easternmost of the Iberian Peninsula. The few granaries that remain in Navarra are buildings with a rectangular floor plan and masonry walls on arches "Arco (architecture)") or lintels on the ground floor, covered with a slate slab "Slate (rock)") or gabled ceramic tiles without a shoulder and, sometimes, a free-standing external staircase joined by a wooden walkway. They are called garaia.
Most of the Navarrese granaries are scattered throughout the northeastern quadrant, in the Pyrenees area, all located at an altitude of between 500 and 950 m.[35] Recent studies relate some of these specimens to Asturian pre-Romanesque architectural typologies. The garaia that is considered the oldest in Navarra is that of Iracheta, in Valdorba, from the 0th century, restored in several phases in recent decades.[36].
Portuguese hórreo or espigueiro
The Portuguese granary, called espigueiro,[37] also called canastro or caniço, depending on its construction method,[38] is a stone or wooden barn with a rectangular floor plan set on pillars of the same material. It owes its name to its original function of storing corn ears or ears, favoring their drying through slots on the sides, preserving them from animals, mainly birds and rodents.[39]
The largest concentration of espigueiros is found in the Northern Region "Northern Region (Portugal)") of Portugal, particularly in Alto Miño, Beira Litoral, Beira Interior and west of Trás-os-Montes. The largest Portuguese espigueiro is located in Carrazedo, parish of Bucos.[40].