Tower of the old Prison - Ponte de Lima

The Torre da Cadeia Velha (Old Prison Tower) or Porta Nova (New Gate Tower) is the result of extensive improvements to the tower, which already existed here as part of the walled structure of the city (14th century) , ordered by King Manuel to install the Correição da Comarca prison and completed in 1511.

This castellative fortress with a regular, roughly square plan, divided into three floors and an extension, with overlapping windows with cross-arches, topped by pyramidal merlons, previously had access to the interior only through the barricade of the Wall and bears the Royal Coat of Arms and an armillary sphere on the southern facade, already moved from its original location, the motto of the Happy King.

With the completion of the Public Promenade - now the 25 de Abril Promenade - at the end of the 19th century, the broken arch door was opened on the lower floor and the level of the internal pavement was lowered at that time.

The interior is characterised by the widespread presence of sigla stones, as well as the corbels and recesses to support the beams that divided it into floors, and the changes in the level of the ground floor over the years are clearly visible in the lintels of the walls.

Willem Vandenameele