Pedro Bernardo Villareal de Berriz, owner of this baserri, Eguen Goiko in 1704 (former Eguren Goikua)

He was an important figure in the scientific revolution of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in the Basque Country. He married Doña Mariana Rosa de Bengolea, a native and resident of Lekeitio, owner of the Bengolea Tower (Gizaburuaga) and the Uriarte Tower (Lekeitio) among other properties. He was interested in mathematics, nautical science, astronomy, architecture and other disciplines.

The 17th century was a century of economic depression. Most of the Basque Country was submerged in this climate of recession because, among other things, one of the country's main resources, IRON, was in crisis. Thanks to the introduction of CORN, agricultural growth was generated, which at least managed to avoid consequences that would otherwise have been irreversible.

Pedro Bernardo Villareal de Berriz, dedicated to shipbuilding, hydraulics, mechanics and forestry, helped to rebuild ironworks (Lea River) and built mills (Berriz, Gizaburuaga), changing the structure of the dams and inventing a pioneering system: arch dams. All this, together with the promotion of forest enrichment (planting of Chestnut and Oak among others) significantly boosted the economy of the area.

In the social context, the MATXINADAS. In the sociocultural panorama, the most significant contribution of this stage is the effort to systematize the BASQUE language in a GRAMMAR. (El Imposible Vencido 1729 and the Trilingual Dictionary).

During his municipal government in Lekeitio, he intervened in the construction of the dam that was to divert the mouth of the estuary, thus facilitating the entry of ships, the current LEKETIO MALECON; which opens a path through the waters and according to the tides, to the island of Garraitz.

Pedro Bernardo Villareal de Berriz, born in Mondragón in 1669, was mayor of Lekeitio on several occasions after his marriage in 1694. He is a councillor of the Foral Government and represents the town of Lekeitio and the Anteiglesias of Gizaburuaga, Amoroto and Mendexa in the General Assemblies and in Las Merindades del Señorío.

In 1736, his book Hydraulic Machines for Mills and Ironworks and the Management of the Trees and Mountains of Vizcaya was published.

After his great contribution and a life dedicated to improving the resources of the people of the Basque Country, he died in the Uriarte Palace in 1740 in the town of Lekeitio.