Their use has been diverse and varied throughout history, in the past they were used to look after livestock and also as a shelter from the harsh weather conditions while the wheat was being harvested. It is known that even in winter someone stayed there.

There is a small hermitage called Ermita de la Virgen del Remedio (Chapel of the Virgin of Remedy), where people from nearby villages gathered every year.

The geographical location of the bordas made them a strategic place of refuge and a stopover for smugglers who smuggled wool and other products to Andorra.

During the Civil War, some of the villages near the group of "bordas" were evicted and many people took refuge there, helped by Republican soldiers, and survived by growing potatoes and some cattle.