The Almendra de Casserres Colony, also known as the Monegal Colony, is one of the many river-based textile colonies that emerged in Catalonia during the 19th century, particularly along the River Llobregat, to harness the power of water as an energy source.
It is located at the northeastern edge of the municipality of Casserres, on the right bank of the Llobregat, but close to the town of Gironella — which explains why most social and commercial relations were established with Gironella rather than with Casserres. One of the region’s main droving routes once passed through this area.
The colony can be divided into three parts or levels. In the lower level, the main section of the colony, are found the weir and its canal, the factory with its warehouses, workshops, and housing for managers and workers, arranged around the main street, together with the bridge, the Quera fountain, and the gates that once closed off the colony. An iron bridge, built by La Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima, replaced an earlier wooden footbridge, although it was later swept away by flooding of the Llobregat.
The middle level is structured around the upper street, where the church, convent, former priest’s house, a public washhouse, and a water tank are located. Finally, in the highest section stands the old farmhouse of L’Ametlla, with its fountain, the new owners’ tower, and the Santa Rosa flats.
The arrangement of these elements was not random but followed a deliberate and logical plan. The original nucleus was established beside the river, on the site of an old mill destroyed during the Peninsular War. There the first factory was built, together with the weir, canal, and bridge. The first workers’ dwellings were located above the factory itself. As the company grew, new storage buildings and housing were added along what is now Carrer de Dalt. The structures in this area were built using stone quarried locally during the levelling of the terrain. This period marked the first organised layout of the colony, with the church, convent, priest’s house, washhouse, and other communal facilities. The second expansion, to the south, included the Main Street and the central square, where the grocery shop, inn, director’s house, and foreman’s residence were located.
At the highest point stands the Masia de l’Ametlla, the ancestral home of the colony’s first owners and of the surrounding fields. From this vantage point, the entire colony could be supervised. In the early twentieth century, the Owners’ Tower was built — a residence reflecting the tastes of the time and serving as an unmistakable symbol of power and authority.
The Masia de l’Ametlla, named after its owners, was originally an agricultural estate that included the adjoining western fields. In 1814, Josep Comas i Ametlla settled in an old mill in the municipality of Puig-reig. A few years later (1834), the brothers Ramon, Josep and Joan were commissioned by the Gironella Town Council to rebuild the weir of the town mill. The family’s importance is evident in their links to several mills — l’Ametlla de Casserres, l’Ametlla de Merola, Gironella, and Puig-reig — all of which took their name from them. The first textile workshops were installed in the mill under the patronage of Tomàs Bach of Berga.
In 1858, Esteve Monegal purchased the factory and began the colony’s expansion. In 1873, he applied for permission to build a new weir to modernise production and increase profitability. The permit was granted in 1875, after which a new turbine was installed, the factory premises were enlarged, additional machinery was purchased, and more workers were hired.
When Esteve Monegal died in 1879, his son Josep Monegal i Nogués continued the enterprise his father had begun. By 1900, the factory already had spinning and weaving sections and employed around three hundred workers. Taking advantage of the favourable conditions created by the First World War, the company expanded further, adopting the name “J. Monegal Nogués e Hijos”, before becoming a public limited company in 1925 under the name Textil Monegal, S.A.
In 1966, amid the crisis in the textile sector, the factory closed down. With the end of production, the owners offered the workers the chance to purchase the homes they lived in, and most accepted the proposal.
Josep Monegal Nogués, the colony’s chief driving force, was not only a cotton manufacturer and wholesale trader but also a member (1886–1890) and president (1902 and 1928) of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Mayor of Barcelona (1902–03), Senator (1905 and 1907), and a life senator from 1908 onwards. The Monegal family were also founding members of the Caja de Pensiones.