Outlying districts of Águilas: El Cocón, Los Gallegos and Los Arejos
Small farming communities in the west of the municipality of Águilas
For first-time visitors it is easy to imagine that Águilas in the south-west of the Region of Murcia is purely a coastal area, the south-westernmost in the Costa Cálida before the Costa de Almería begins, but in fact the 251-square-kilometre municipality includes large areas of farmland and mountains.
Among these is the area known as El Cocón, including the hamlets of Los Arejos and Los Gallegos, approximately 7 kilometres north-west of the town centre of Águilas. These small villages are best reached by taking the RM-D24 road from the first junction on the RM-11 motorway as it heads out of Águilas towards Lorca (the intersection with the AP-7 motorway). The two hamlets are separated only by the Rambla de Los Arejos, underneath which there is an aquifer which was used in the past as a water supply in the same way as the Rambla de Nogalte in Puerto Lumbreras.
The area is known to have been inhabited in the second millennium BC by farmers belonging to the Argaric Culture, and the Romans also made use of the fertile farmland in this part of Águilas, while the presence of the Moors between the 8th and 13th century can be deduced from the remains of castles at Tébar and Chuecos in the mountains between Lorca and Águilas. Following the Reconquista of Murcia by Christian forces in 1243 it took a long time for the population to grow again, but in the Águilas countryside there was a certain amount of economic activity related to the cultivation of “barilla”, a kind of salsola which was used in the production of soap and in glass-making.
During the 19th century there was an influx of wealth and population to the area after seams of silver, lead and iron were found in the hills of the Sierra de la Almagrera, and the esparto grass industry was also at its zenith, leading to the growth of villages like Los Gallegos. However, now the hills are more of a landscape feature than a source of wealth, with the wildlife including spur-thighed tortoises and many species of birds of prey, while agriculture on the lower ground dominates the local economy.
The local fiestas are held every May in Los Arejos in honour of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of agricultural workers, and among the traditions are a variety of games and a greyhound race. There is also a choral Mass and a small Romería starting and ending in the local church, and on the last Sunday of the fiestas the residents and visitors sit together and enjoy a large communal paella.
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