Agorregi iron and grain mill complex (Aia)

"Agorregi iron and grain mill complex in Aia,offers one of the most striking examples of hydraulic engineering placed at the service of traditional industry in the country. Although there is documentary evidence of activity here in the sixteenth century, the present complex dates from 1754 when its owner, Joaquín de Lardizabal, commissioned new plans from Francisco de Ibero. This Gipuzkoan engineer designed an ingenious arrangement to make maximum use of the water resources, creating five different catchments from nearby water courses to feed the different channels in the forge. The terraced silhouette of Agorregi, with its two millponds, one above the other, shows the basic outline of hw the water was used: the first pond drove the wheel of the bellows, and the water was then recovered in the second pool to move the hammer and additionally, to drive the adjoining grain mill. Below it stood a second grain mill, where the left-over water from the iron-working and milling operations was again collected and re-used, before being returned to the stream". (Bertan Coleccion, 16)