Torres de Mens: A Fifteenth-Century Castle Complex in Galicia

Site at a Glance

Popularity: Medium
Country: Spain
Primary era: Medieval

Eras represented: Medieval
Civilizations: Crown of Castile
Site type: Domestic
Remains: Castle

On this page4 sections

History

Foundation and earlier occupation

Torres de Mens is a castle complex in the village of Mens, in Malpica de Bergantiños, Galicia, Spain. The Galician nobleman Lope Sánchez de Moscoso built it in the fifteenth century, after the Irmandiño revolts, uprisings against noble power in Galicia. The castle replaced an earlier fortress, which had itself occupied an ancient fortified settlement.

Local tradition tells of a passage connecting the towers with the Church of Santiago de Mens and Seiruga beach. In the story, villagers attacked a count who had held a young woman captive in the castle. Surrounded, he tried to flee through the passages, but villagers set fire to their three entrances. The tale also says crops grown near the passage have since grown faster.

Later ownership and rehabilitation

Pedro Abelenda y Díaz de Andrade acquired the towers in the twentieth century. His great-great-grandson, Agustín Ordóñez, became their current owner and oversaw the latest rehabilitation, which adapted the complex as a residence. In 1993, Torres de Mens received a Europa Nostra award recognizing monuments rescued from ruin. Spanish castles received general legal protection under a decree of 22 April 1949, and the complex has held Bien de Interés Cultural status, a formal Spanish heritage designation, since 1994.

Remains

The complex comprises a residence and three square-plan towers within a circular walled enclosure. The towers have lost their battlements, the raised defensive features at their tops. The main building has an L-shaped plan and a tower set at an angle to its main line. A wooden balcony projects from one corner of the upper floor on stone supports. The entrance passes through a Gothic arch, a medieval architectural form, in one of the towers.