A castle you read on the ground
In Eiró, the circular shape and moat tell a story.
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The municipal inventory interprets the vestiges as a fortified motorcycle-type residence from the middle of the 13th century. It relates it to the castle referred to in the 1258 Inquisitions. The circular shape rests on a stone and gravel landfill, surrounded by a moat. The municipality highlights the position over the valley of Rio Douro, link between Refojos and the plateau Barrosão. The reading combines ground and document, without reconstructing the missing building for sure.
The document of 1258 adds a social dimension to the form of the land: according to the municipal interpretation, almost all residents of Santo André of Rio Douro had an annual obligation to move to the castle. The reference links fortification to the community organization, although it does not clarify here all the associated tasks.
The inventory compares construction with examples from Brittany. It is a comparison of forms and techniques, not a proof of the origin of its builders. The location in the middle of the hillside helps to understand the relationship between defense and passage through the valley.
The land and documents
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Another village, another chronology
A village drawn on the slope →What do the documents say about Pedraça
Pedraça already had another name written →Funeral traces and engravings in Abadim
The stone also kept drawings →
Source and context
Municipality — archaeological inventory, interpretations and chronologies
Accessed: . Editorial summary; the date of consultation is not the date of the facts.