The Campo de Guía is a central district of El
Puerto de Santa María where most of the bodegas, though not all, have been traditionally
located. It runs approximately from the bull ring (a later building, completed
in 1880) down a gentle slope towards the river Guadalete between the streets of
Los Moros and Valdés. This area was once closer to the open sea than it is now
and provided good access for loading ships at the quayside.
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| The Ermita Nuestra Senora de la Guia is No.1 on far left in this early XVIII C engraving (foto:entornoajerez) |
The land occupied by the Campo de Guía is named
after the long disappeared hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Guía, (Our Lady of
Guidance) a patron saint of seafarers, which was situated near the waterfront
on the site of what is now Bodegas Gutiérrez Colosía (built in 1838). The old
plan from 1755 shows parkland planted with poplar trees where the cavalry could
practice, and at top right the Ermita itself. The other buildings are the
houses of local aristocracy and wealthy merchants, or cargadores a Indias as many
were known. One of the grand houses belonged to William Terry. In that same
year the area was hit by the tsunami resulting from the Lisbon earthquake and
the old Hermitage was destroyed.
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| XVIII C tinted engraving showing land before building. Ermita is top right (foto:gentedelpuerto) |
During the last third of the XVIII century
plans were drawn up to redevelop this area into a sort of industrial estate for
bodegas and, unlike Jerez where bodega construction was more random and where the
council encouraged building outside the city walls, in El Puerto the precinct was
very much planned. This was mainly due to conflicts between the wealthy people
who owned the land and the council had to take control.
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| Aerial view of the area in the 1940s. Gutierrez Colosia top right (foto:gentedelpuerto) |
This was the dawn of the age of the “cathedral
bodegas”, the large airy buildings we know and love today, and they were
endowed with patios and cooperages. Two well -known architects were responsible
for much of the design; Torcuato José Benjumeda and Juan Daura, and the result
of their work was a district with a degree of uniformity yet much personality.
The classic bodega colours were used: green for the blinds, railings and doors;
white for the walls and calamocha (yellow ochre) for skirtings and façade
features.
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| Many look like this. Osborne's Bodega La Vieja now restored into restaurant/bar. (foto:cuartodemaravillas) |
It was not until the late 1830s that the work
was completed thanks to various wars in which Spain was involved. During this
period the American colonies were mostly lost and many who had made a fortune
there returned, seeing the Sherry business as a new way to make money.
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| This old bodega is now Bodegas El Cortijo used for weddings, celebrations etc. |
Many handsome bodegas can still be seen in the
Campo de Guía area but they are not all any longer full of Sherry. Some have
gone, replaced by housing or used for other kinds of business, and some are left
empty and likely to fall prey to speculative builders – a few already have.
Luckily there are local people who are looking out for the protection of local
patrimony but it can be difficult to find other uses for these buildings. One
however, which once belonged to Manuel Moreno de Mora, in Calle Los Moros, now houses
the city archive.
