The history of the stone drums that surprise in the center of La Mancha
The Tomelloso drums are the typical houses of the farmer in this area, built from the second half of the 19th century
The drums of Tomelloso are a hallmark perhaps not well known city of La Mancha. These constructions are integrated into sections of the Don Quixote Route, declared a European Cultural Itinerary, which runs through the territory of the Castilla-La Manch region following the adventures of the knight Don Quixote, protagonist of the universal work of Don Miguel de Cervantes .
The bombo is the typical house of the Tomellosero farmer , which served as an ideal refuge in the field tasks. It has its origin from the second half of the s. XIX , as a consequence of the extension of the cultivation of the vine, being used as a dwelling place during agricultural tasks. At that time, the farmers could not go and return to the town in the same day, so they had to build this type of facilities to house the farmers, shelter the animals and keep their tools during the country days.
They are made in a natural way with the local stone (flagstones or boats) , dug up by the plow and piled up on the edges. The foundation requires a careful technique, since it is made stone on stone without using any type of mortar for its union.
With a circular shape, its construction was not simple. As Lorenzo Sánchez López explains in his book "The tomellosero hype, space and time in the landscape", the largest stones were placed in the lowest part, a ditch of about 40 cm was dug to lay the foundations, they were piled up forming two walls in vertical and parallel circles, sometimes leaving a space of one meter wide, which was later filled with smaller loose stone, giving the impression of being a single wall.
From the 1.40 m height, the conical turn began, from where the start of the false dome starts , the builder made each circular and concentric course fly slightly , each time smaller as they approached the axis of the circle. The final course ends up forming a ring a few centimeters wide, which is covered with a thick stone.
Inside you can find, among others, the fireplace for the fire , the benches for the rest, the niches as cupboards, the stakes driven into the walls or hooks where the tools were mainly hung when finishing the tasks and the area of the stable for the animals, which provided heat during the night.
The uniqueness of these constructions was received with great interest by the participants of the I Congress of Rural Architecture in dry stone and they requested UNESCO to declare the Bombos as a World Heritage Site. Visits: turismo@aytotomelloso.es
