"These are next to the. Church the ruins and a few other must see items. You have to go to the church and thus is right next door!"

jason carney

"Nowadays, only a few remains of the wall remain, but in its day the city of Pontevedra was surrounded by powerful walls. Its construction lasted several centuries. The first was built in the twelfth century. Then a new wall was started in the 13th century to respond to the urban growth associated with the development of fishing and its industries. The elevation of this second wall continued during the 14th century. Already in the 15th century, the last and definitive expansion was undertaken, between the years 1450 and 1480 to save the growing population from the conflicts of the time and obtain new spaces for economic growth. This is how it remained until the 19th century when it was demolished for the sake of the misunderstood "progress" prevailing at that time. The wall was between five and seven meters high, more than two meters wide and had battlements along almost its entire perimeter, surrounding about 36 hectares. The wall had five main gates: the Ponte one, on the abutment of the Ponte do Burgo, opened towards Compostela; that of Trabancas, on one side of the Ferrería square, was access to the Camino a Tui; that of Rochaforte, at the intersection of the current Sarmiento and Cobián Roffignac streets; that of Vila or Santo Domingo, next to the town hall, connected the old walled area with the seafaring quarter of A Moureira; and that of So a Esqueira or Santa María, next to the Basilica. It also had up to seven shutters along its route. The wall also had a system of towers that reinforced its perimeter. Among them, the Archbishop's Towers stood out next to the Basilica of Santa Maria; the Golden Tower, in the northeast corner; and the Bastida Tower where the current Town Hall is located."

VICTOR MARTINEZ

"We find the most visible remains of Pontevedra's medieval wall very close to the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, where the Archbishop's Towers were located. On Arzobispo Malvar Street, there are about 40 meters of what was once an important walled enclosure, most of which disappeared towards the end of the 19th century. Although Pontevedra had a wall during the Roman period, of which very few vestiges remain, the first medieval wall dates back to the 12th century, which was extended by what would become the definitive one, begun in the 13th century and completed two centuries later. The walled enclosure ran between the hills where the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor is located in the west and the Convent of San Francisco in the east. The masonry wall was 7 meters high and was topped by a row of battlements and an adarve (a path along the top of the wall) along its entire length. The wall had four large gates: the Santa María Gate, the Santo Domingo Gate, the Trabancas Gate, and the Rocheforte Gate, as well as smaller ones such as the Galera Gate and the Ribeiro Gate. This defensive complex had several fortified towers along its perimeter: the Archiepiscopal Towers near the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, the Torre del Oro, the Torre Bastida, two more towers between the Trabancas and Rocheforte gates, and two more on the banks of the Lérez River. The wall favored economic and population growth, along with the tax privileges granted by Henry IV of Castile under the Feira Franca (Free Fair). Although, as mentioned, the ruins of the wall can still be easily seen next to the Basilica of Santa María, various building renovation projects have left parts of Pontevedra's old medieval walls exposed."

J.M.Q.