Tenoya Sugar Mill

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Industrial architecture · Year: S. XVI

Sugar mill, in sugar factories, is the word used to refer to the mill where the cane is pressed to extract its juice which, concentrated and cooked, leads to the crystallisation of sugar. 

After the end of the Conquest, Tenoya, thanks to its abundant water and good natural conditions, became a prosperous centre dedicated to sugar cane cultivation. An important sugar factory was established here very early on, and around it a small population nucleus developed.

In 1485, the fertile lands near the Tenoya ravine began to be allocated to the main agents who had participated in the island conquest. Miguel Moxica received large properties in this area. However, he did not live long enough to enjoy them and they passed to his cousin Juan Civerio y Muxica, a Basque conqueror. In a petition dated 3 April 1507, his widow, Catalina Guerra, requested that her lands be measured, while also proving the existence of a sugar factory built by her husband. 

Perhaps what is known today as El Trapiche is where part of that factory once stood, now completely transformed by the passage of centuries. The factories consisted of several structures located near the crops with enclosed rooms made of solid walls, connected by large gates and often covered by a low roof from which a chimney protruded.

The Tenoya Sugar Mill is located very close to the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación. It consists of a series of single-storey buildings with flat or gabled roofs around a central open space at several levels. A notable feature is an opening in one of the oldest sections, where an interesting lintel with a conopial arch can be seen, which may be contemporary with the period when sugar refining was operational. 

The passage of time has changed the morphology of these structures, which have been adapted, modified and enlarged during the different periods of their long life.

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