Castro De São Paulo

Castro de São Paulo is located in the parish of Poiares, in the municipality of Freixo de Espada à Cinta. It can be reached by a municipal road from Poiares and by foot via the Calçada de Alpajares. It was a fortified settlement dating back to the Iron Age, of Roman origin, rural in character and a small Castro stronghold located on a spur at the confluence of the Ribeira do Brita and the Ribeira do Mosteiro. Combined with its strategic location overlooking the valleys of these two streams and a large stretch of the Calçada de Alpajares, it also has excellent natural defensive conditions with steep ravines on all sides except the north, where the only access area is located. A few pieces of the defensive wall remain scattered around the stronghold, such as the one on the east side, overlooking the Ribeira do Mosteiro, where there is the alignment of a wall about 40 meters long, leading us to believe that it is undoubtedly the base of the wall that would have existed there. There is nothing visible on the surface of the earth to show signs of the walls on the north and west sides. As a result, the absence of these remains of the wall does not allow us to give the exact shape of the redoubt, nor its precise dimensions. By estimation alone, it can be assumed that the area of this small settlement was rounded and had a diameter of around 60 meters. A few sections of the wall still remain, mainly near where the famous Calçada de Alpajares ends. There are two open graves in the rock and over the years pieces of coarse pottery, small portions of badly damaged bones, a bronze piece believed to represent a probable key and some engraved and chipped pieces of marble have appeared.