Coal Yards and Coal Piers of Valleseco

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Industrial architecture · Year: 1876-1920

The coast of the Valleseco neighbourhood was for a long time the main site for coal transactions in the port of Santa Cruz. The supply of coal to the fleets calling at the port was a constant activity during the period from 1860 to 1926. The unloading of this material was carried out at the traditional anchorages, depositing it in barges, to then be taken ashore to the small piers of the importing companies, where small wagons, pulled by animals, were responsible for transporting it to the warehouses. The reverse operation was carried out when ships requested fuel, indicating the required coal load by means of their horn.

The company Tenerife Coaling Company Ltd. Hamilton moved in 1876 to the mouth of the Valleseco ravine, where it built warehouses and a pier for coal supply, importing barges, rails, wagons, scales and other materials for its operations from London.

Another company, Cory Brothers, also settled in Valleseco in 1912, constructing three metal sheds of geometric design and a pier, whose surface was equipped with rails for the movement of wagons connecting it with the warehouses built on the beach, which we can still observe today.

Later, in 1920, the company Depósitos de Carbones de Tenerife built another pier, on whose dock a wooden structure was established that could be quickly dismantled in case of emergency.

After the era of coal as fuel for maritime traffic ended, the entire complex was abandoned until the last decade of the 20th century when the Cabildo of Tenerife rehabilitated it, restoring two of the three coal warehouses and demolishing the other as it lay within the trajectory of the port's service road.

This entire complex, formed by landing stages, industrial warehouses and barge slipways of the three aforementioned companies, as well as the warehouses and machinery shed, was declared a Cultural Interest Asset in 1990 in the category of "Historic Site". It is currently awaiting the redevelopment of the adjacent coastline, where an ambitious project has been planned for years.

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