Castle of Alcantarilha

Parish of Alcantarilha

Background

The village of Alcantarilha has been inhabited since ancient times, as can be seen from the large number of archaeological remains found in private works in the historic center. The original settlement of Alcantarilha may have been a Lusitanian fort, occupied during the transition period from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic.

It was conquered by the Roman armies around 198 BC, and used as a military base, in connection with the port of Armação de Pêra.

The medieval castle

During the Islamic period, Alcantarilha had great importance from a strategic point of view, as it was located next to a bridge on the road between Faro and Silves, then the main cities in the region. In fact, it was due to this bridge that the village received its name, al-qantarâ, which was later changed to Alcantarilha. In this sense, it was during this period, during the 12th century, that the castle was built.

In the 13th century, Alcantarilha was conquered by the Christian forces of D. Paio Peres Correia, during the reign of Afonso III of Portugal. During this period, the castle maintained its importance, so much so that the monarch ordered major works to be carried out on that fortress, one of the possible traces of this intervention being the relatively oval shape of the highest streets in Alcantarilha. According to some authors, the castle was only built at this time.

In the 16th century, possibly during the reign of D. João III, work began on the construction of the walls of Alcantarilha. However, the town was attacked by Moorish pirates in 1550, when it was sacked, and in 1559, leading the women and children to take refuge in Silves, due to the lack of defenses.

In 1571, King Sebastian, King of Portugal ordered the completion of the walls, and on January 28, 1573, he visited Alcantarilha during a trip to the south of the country, in order to see if the works had already been completed. The chronicler João Cascão, who was part of the king's group, wrote that Alcantarilha, a village with 150 neighbors, is now surrounded by a wall all around, and with bastions in convenient places, as it is close to the coast [...] The King entered the main street of the village, which, on both sides, was full of people, and at the windows there were some very good-looking young women. [...] and they walked around Alcantarilha seeing the new building. At that time the Castle was still quite significant from a military point of view, serving to defend both the interior of the region and to prevent possible enemy landings on the coast. These works profoundly modified the structure of the castle, which almost completely lost its original Islamic architecture. Some researchers have put forward the theory that the castle was only built or repaired at this time, due to previous attacks on Alcantarilha. According to the work Corografia do Reino do Algarve, written by Frei João de São José in 1577, the Alcantarilha fence was still under construction.

In 1621, the Italian military engineer Alexandre Massai described Alcantarilha in his work Description of the Kingdom of Algarve, advising that the work on the walls be completed, at which time only the bastion was completed and the walls were partially built. According to Massai, only the sections facing the sea had been completed and were not completed due to lack of funds. Many of the walls were just beginning, and it was advised that they be raised to the height of the existing bastion, using a stone and mortar structure. He also recommended that the works be carried out on the land side, and that a trench be dug around it, and that the support of the population, who had offered to help with the works, be used.

According to the work of Lívio da Costa Guedes, Aspects of the Kingdom of the Algarve, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Massai is said to have stated that «to me it seems certain that the aforementioned place is worthy and deserving of ending the aforementioned siege, because next to it is the other aforementioned place of Pera, both of which are at risk of attack [...] and also for the safety of the gunboats near this place, which are Pera and Pedra da Galé, where the family of these shipowners is on the coast». He also reported that Alcantarilha had a good militia force, consisting of 27 men on horseback and 221 on foot. Massai drew up a plan for the castle, which was to be in the form of a hexagonal polygon, extending along the crest of the hill, with part of the walls facing south, while the rest was to be surrounded by a moat.

From the 18th to the 20th century

In the 18th century, Alcantarilha Castle entered a deep state of decay, which may have been caused by the 1755 Earthquake. In 1758 the Marquis of Pombal ordered the parish priests to report on the damage caused by the earthquake. The parish priest of Alcantarilha reported only minor damage to the Church, making no reference to the walls. According to the Municipal Master Plan, the arch of the Portal da Vila was torn down during this century, and the materials were reused to build the bridge over the Ribeira de Alcantarilha.

On July 2, 1934, the building of the Municipal Market of Alcantarilha was inaugurated, partially attached to the wall. In the 1940s, Alcantarilha Castle was still considered to be in a good state of conservation, although the city's progressive urban expansion led to the destruction of much of the structure, with the area within the walls being profoundly modified, while large parts of the wall were being demolished.

In August 1973, the Secretariat of State for Education and Culture - General Directorate of Cultural Affairs sent a letter to the Silves local authority informing it that the decision had been taken to classify Alcantarilha Castle as a Property of Public Interest.

In 1974, the process for establishing the administrative easement of Alcantarilha Castle began, in order to proceed with its classification, and the Jornal do Algarve of 27 July of that year published the notice for the creation of the administrative easement, a generic protection zone with a radius of 50 m. However, three complaints were made to this process, two of which were made by owners of buildings and land in Alcantarilha, and a third by the owner of the castle itself, who feared that they would not be able to build new buildings or modify existing ones within the area covered. These complaints were responded to by a letter dated August 20, which stated that this process did not prevent the construction or alteration of buildings within the area, only that this type of work had to be authorized by the government. This document also stated that, by decision of the Secretary of State for Culture and Permanent Education, the complaints did not prevent the castle from being classified as a Property of Public Interest. The castle's listing process was completed approximately two years later, on September 29, 1977.

In 2000, the Castle was the target of archaeological survey work, as part of the Parcelling Project for the Vale da Vila and Alcantarilha Perimeters, in Silves.