• Gurruchaga López. y Cia. “La Zumayana” (1893-1907):

Visible remains: external walls, chimney, group of seven calcining kilns, mills’ department, warehouse and worker houses. 

Constructive features: one-floor building, divided into two communicating sections, covered by a dual-pitched roof. Rubble-stone walls, excepting the angle chains, made of ashlar. The main façades show five big, highly vertical windows; they are crowned by brick segmental arches. The chimney is made of firebrick.

 

• Esteban Aranguren y Cia. “San José” (1887-1907): 

Visible remains: base of the chimney, two walls of the factory, machine operator’s house.

Constructive features: the building is similar to the premises of La Zumayana, but in a smaller scale. It housed four kilns and two millstones.

Zumaia and its surroundings became a site of unequalled potential for natural cement production, thanks to the fact that both high quality raw materials and a trading port were available in this small area. In fact, the geological features of the area offered high quality marlstone from the quarries in Ibañarrieta, and lignite, from the mines in Aizarna. These materials provided the cement manufactured in Zumaia with its main asset: its resistance to the action of selenite-rich water or seawater.

Due to the important demand of this kind of product, in addition to its quality, it turned to be commonly known as “Cement of Zumaya”. This industry became the economic engine of the town and had a major role in the reactivation of its port. The cement factories were mainly located in the areas of Oikia and Narrondo (Zumaia) and Arroa Behea, Agote, Iraeta and Txiriboga (Zestoa).

The remains of the cement factories Gurruchaga López y Cia., known as “La Zumayana”, y Esteban Aranguren y Cia. , so-called “San José”, are still visible, as the last witnesses of this vital activity in the area of Narrondo, in Zumaia. Both complexes reflected the social structure this kind of industries generated, as they included the houses for their workers, together with the production plants themselves.