A tour of the submerged village of Peñarrubia and an old railway tunnel

Between the 1950s and 1980s, Spain experienced a significant period of reservoir construction for water supply and power generation.

El Caminito del Rey, a vertigo route along a pedestrian walkway attached to a gorge
A beautiful mountain route looking for the 'Nazca of Málaga' and a stone friar

Between 1950 and 1980, 581 dams were built, which greatly mitigated the effects of droughts in many parts of Spain. The price to pay was the flooding of many towns and villages, which were submerged by the waters of these reservoirs. One of them was Peñarrubia (Málaga), a town of medieval origin built in the 16th century on the former site of a Muslim castle. Dependent for many years on the municipality of Teba, it eventually separated and obtained its own municipal boundaries in 1832.

In 1970, Peñarrubia had 1,832 inhabitants. In 1971, they were evacuated due to the construction of the Guadalteba Dam, which began to impound water in October of that year. In 1972, the last inhabitants of Peñarrubia left their village forever. In 1973, the municipality of Peñarrubia was dissolved and became part of Campillos. The houses were demolished to prevent any residents from resisting the evacuation, and only the old school and the Civil Guard barracks were left standing, for use by the Southern Hydrographic Confederation, as well as the Hermitage of Our Lady of the Rosary, which was left in ruins. The former residents of Peñarrubia built a replica of this hermitage outside the flooded area. Its construction began in 2016 and it was inaugurated in 2022.

Along with this village, the old Córdoba-Málaga railway line was flooded. This line passed through Gobantes, a neighborhood of Peñarrubia where its railway station was located. With the village submerged, the old Bogantes and Valdeyeso tunnels (the first 363 meters long and the second 355 meters long) and the 40-meter bridge between them, which now disappears and spanned the Guadalhorce River, were abandoned.

Yesterday, the always interesting YouTube channel Aventuras Entresierras (which I recommend you subscribe to) published an interesting video exploring this ancient submerged village and one of those abandoned railway tunnels (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

You can see some screenshots from this interesting video here. Here we see the intrepid Alfred walking along an old railway trench, dug to carry the now-vanished railway line that ran through this submerged village.

The old railway bridge over the Guadalhorce River, now destroyed, but whose remains still show the beauty of its construction.

The old Valdeyeso railway tunnel. The tracks were removed when the village was demolished to be flooded. Despite more than half a century of abandonment, the tunnel is still in very good condition. You can see its interior in the video.

The new Hermitage of the Virgin of the Rosary, built by former residents of Peñarrubia as a replica of the one that was submerged under the waters.

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Images: Aventuras Entresierras.