The double wall

The premises of the castle were protected by a strongly walled enclosure whose main entrance faced the northwest. The wall had four round towers (one at each corner) and three square towers, one at each side of the walls except on the northwest, where the entrance was.

Both the towers and the wall must have had arrow slits and merlons at the top and the chemins de ronde would have been behind them.

Three concentric enclosures

Some witnesses to the Tavera-Fonseca lawsuit mention two further enclosures that would concentrically encircle the first but archeology has only found evidence of one of them which circles and replicates the wall but it is lower. This is what it is known as barbican: its role was to protect the inner wall from artillery, rock missiles and hamper access.

The ward or open space between these two walls, was used as a dumpsite, hence that abundant archeological material was unearthed there.

By Cenlitrospormetrocadrado.
By Cenlitrospormetrocadrado.
By Enmacosa.

On the basis of the archeological materials found at the fillings of the ward and the characteristics of the wall, the barbican seems to have been added at the final stage of the castle.

This construction is prior to the destruction of the castle during the Irmandiño Revolt of 1467, so this improvement must have originated in the consequences of the previous siege and sought to adapt to the technological evolution of weapons of war. Its construction is believed to have been the initiative of Afonso de Fonseca I, the administrator of the diocese in 1461, and of his nephew and successor, Afonso de Fonseca II.

As to the third enclosure, the outermost one and mentioned by some witnesses, it might have been a mere stone or even an earth wall of which nothing has survived, and which might have fully or partially circled the fortress.

Protection against the technologic advances in weaponry

Three concentric enclosures

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