Bridge and Tower of Ucanha

The Bridge and Tower of Ucanha crosses the Varosa river at the village of Ucanha, in the municipality of Tarouca. The complex combines a medieval granite bridge with a square tower raised at its head. It was there that one entered the estate of the Salzedas Monastery and where tolls were paid. Few works show as clearly how a bridge could be, at once, a passage, a seigneurial boundary and a source of income.

A bridge at the entrance to the estate

The national heritage register places the first configuration of the monument in the second half of the 12th century. At that time, this part of the territory belonged to the estate of the Salzedas Monastery. The bridge stood at the entrance to that territory, and the settlement that grew around it is referred to as Vila da Ponte.

The complex seen today, however, is later. The same register admits that the bridge and tower were possibly rebuilt in the 14th century. There is therefore no single construction date: the work resulted from several phases, and its exact chronology remains to be studied.

The bridge itself

The bridge has a double-trestle deck, a common solution in medieval bridges: its profile rises to the centre and descends towards the banks. It rests on five pointed arches. The central arch, with a much larger span, crosses the main bed of the Varosa, and its piers are the only ones reinforced with cutwaters.

Despite its age, it is not one of the country’s Roman bridges: the national register describes it as a medieval work, and the trestle form and pointed arches correspond to that building tradition.

The toll tower

What makes the complex unique is the tower associated with the bridge, built to protect the crossing and to control people and goods. In a territory with few river crossings, collecting tolls could be an important source of revenue, and it is in light of this levy that the national register explains the tower.

According to the national register, the tower stands on the side of the Tarouca monastery. It has a square plan and three storeys. On the top floor, all four faces have machicolated balconies with axial openings, which allowed the base of the building to be defended; there are also some arrow slits. Throughout the 14th century, several groups of residents tried to be exempted from the toll. According to the register, the monks of Salzedas managed to prevent all these attempts.

The works of 1465

In 1465, there is record of works on the complex carried out by Abbot D. Fernando of Salzedas, marked by a commemorative inscription. The national register notes that the extent of this work is unknown. The traces of the 15th-century campaign are not easy to identify, and the complex awaits a more complete study. For this reason, 1465 should be read as the date of a documented intervention, not as the date of construction of the tower.

Decline and restoration

The toll was abolished from 1504 onwards, and the monument lost much of its original function. The deck remained the main crossing in the area, but the tower fell into decay and served only as a warehouse. The trend was reversed only in the 1930s, when the Directorate-General for Buildings and National Monuments (DGEMN) restored the complex.

Classification

The national register identifies the monument as the Torre de Ucanha, with the alternative designation Ponte e Torre de Ucanha. It is classified as a National Monument by the Decree of 16 June 1910, published in the Diário do Governo no. 136, of 23 June 1910. In the same village, the Pelourinho da Ucanha has its own classification, as a Property of Public Interest, by Decree no. 23 122, of 11 October 1933; see also pillories.

Visiting the Varosa valley

The bridge is a public passage in the village, and the tower stands on Avenida Nova da Ponte, according to the national register. When consulted on 5 November 2026, we found no official information on visits to the interior of the tower. Expect to observe it from the outside and confirm any openings with the Municipality of Tarouca.

Ucanha pairs well with a visit to the two great Cistercian monasteries of the valley: Salzedas, lord of the estate where the bridge stood, and São João de Tarouca. The route is framed within the Cistercian routes in Portugal; for the region, see also Lamego.

Photograph by Joseolgon, of 16 March 2025. Original on Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY 4.0; resized and compressed for the web, without altering the composition.