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Municipality of Beires (Almería Province, Andalusia, Spain)

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image by WP User:Miguillen, 19 Jul 2009

Introduction
Description
Coat of Arms

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of Beires (132 inhabitants in 2008; 3,900 ha) is located in the Alpujarra mountains, 55 km north-west of Almería.

According to the inventory made by Blas de Orantes on 19 January 1574, Beires was inhabited before the Alpujarra Wars by 140 Moriscos and 8 Christians; the hamlet of Bogaraia had 50 inhabitants, all Moriscos. The Moriscos operated three bread ovens, four olive oil mills and five grain mills; the clark De Morales owned another grain mill. The villagers grown c. 60 ha of crops irrigated by sources and aquaducts and c. 230 ha, non irrigated, planted with 550 olive trees, 43,000 grapevines and 352 mulberry trees yielding some 30 tons of leaves allowing the production of 88 ounces of silk. A few old forges were supplied with iron extracted from a neighbouring mine. The resettlement was planned for 40 colonists (in addition to the seven Christian vilagers who had survived the wars), to which the plots were allocated by a lottery. Each plot included a house, 1.2 ha of irrigated land, 3.6 ha of non irrigated land, 10 olive trees, 750 grapevines, and mulberry leaves required to start rearing silkworms. In 1593, Jorge de Baeza y Haro recorded 32 villagers and 26 houses suitable for living. The villagers had 34 animals used for ploughing, 20 for transport, 100 goats and 20 hunting rifles. They complained of huge injustice. In 1752, Beires had 113 houses and two hamlets. The only shop in the village sold tobacco. There were in the village a doctor, a letter writer, a barber, a blacksmith, 70 day workers, a priest and a sexton. This evolution is representative of the situation of the Morisco villages in the Alpujarra mountains, which usually needed two centuries to reemerge after the unfortunate expelling of the Moriscos.

Source: Beires unofficial website, by Raimundo del Rey Maeso

Ivan Sache, 19 Jul 2009

Description

The flag and arms of Beires were approved by the Municipal Council on 10 June 2005 and submitted on 8 July 2005 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 20 July 2005, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 149 on 2 August 2005.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Coat of arms: Shield in a single piece, vert, a bridge or masoned sable supported by two truncated mounts or and surmounted by a shovel and a hammer of the same crossed per saltire, all over a terrace or charged with a laurel vert. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

Flag: Rectangular panel the length once and a half the hoist, divided in the middle per bend, green in the upper part and golden yellow the lower part. In the middle of the flag the municipal coat of arms outlined in red.

The symbols should be registered on the Andalusian Register of Local Entities, with their official written description and graphics (as originally submitted, but unfortunately not appended to the Decree).

Source: BOJA, No. 149, p. 56, 02 Aug 2005

Photos of the inauguration of the flag and arms of Beires are shown on the Beires unofficial website.

Ivan Sache, 19 Jul 2009