For both their recreational and religious aspects, the pilgrimages celebrated around this sanctuary—more than a hermitage—stand out notably among those dedicated to Saint Agatha in our area. It is located on a plateau 200 meters above sea level, in the foothills of Mount Arroletza (452 meters), above the Kastrexana bridge on the coastal Jacobean route, and a short distance from the route that led from Bilbao—via Balmaseda—to the Meseta. This strategic location made the sanctuary and its surroundings a theater of operations in all the civil wars of the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, it is accessed via the local road that leads from Kastrexana, through Santa Agatha and the Basatxu pass, to Cruces, both neighborhoods especially linked to its pilgrimages.
The first documentary evidence confirms that the sanctuary already existed in 1584, possibly built on the foundations of an earlier hermitage. Remodeled over the centuries, its most recent restorations date from 1959 and 1996. Due to its distance from the parent parish of San Vicente de Barakaldo, and after becoming an annex, it became dependent on San Bartolomé de Alonsotegi in 1882, and on the parish of Santa Águeda de Kastrexana from 1956. Before industrialization, it had its own Casa de la Novena and one of the three inns or taverns in the municipality. In addition to the Rococo altarpiece with the titular image of Saint Agatha, on both sides of the presbytery there are bas-reliefs dedicated to Saint James and Saint Anne; but, above all, an alabaster image of Saint Agatha - placed in the sacristy - with her head separated from her body, dating from around the year 1350.
Popular imagination saturates the surroundings of Santa Águeda, from Basatxu to Ibarreta and Solondo, with apparitions of witches and various characters from the Christian sacred universe: the Virgin herself - in allusion to the saint -, an image of Saint Anthony of Padua and even the Devil, attributing to him or to the witches the construction of the Kastrexana bridge.
