Mieres

Mieres lies in the valleys south of Oviedo, along the routes that cross the mountains between Asturias and the Castilian plateau. Farming and livestock long sustained its inhabitants. In the later eighteenth century coal was discovered in parts of the district; the writer Jovellanos recorded its use to make lime for the bridge at Santullano. Mieres was long associated with the council of Lena, but after several changes it became an independent council in 1837.