Ponte de Porco

About this heritage

Ponte do Porco is a small settlement located at the entrance of the Miño municipality from the neighboring municipality of Paderne. The name originates from the coat of arms of the House of Andrade and the boar's head that can be seen on the 14th-century medieval bridge. The "Ponte do Porco" bridge was built by order of Fernán Pérez de Andrade so that pilgrims traveling to Santiago de Compostela could cross the Lambre River as it passes through Miño. Its name also comes from a legend that circulates throughout the municipality, which tells of an impossible love.

In 1978, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts dedicated a monument to the Andrade family in the center of the place. It is a cruceiro with a pig and a cross on top, which can be considered a victory of good over evil. It was created by the sculptor from Compostela, Alfonso Sanmartín, in 1962. It is based on the cruceiros that the Andrade family placed on the main buildings of their fief to identify their house.

In the surroundings of Ponte do Porco, right at the mouth of the Lambre River, we find Playa Alameda, a rural area with a promenade shaped like a half shell, with white fine sand. With an average width of 50 meters and a length of 450 meters, it is located in a protected area of the Natura 2000 Network and included in the Betanzos-Mandeo natural space.

To learn more

Ponte do Porco is a village known for its famous bridge and beach, which owes its name to the boar's head that was the emblem of the house and legacy of Fernán Pérez de Andrade O Boo. The locality is part of the Miño municipality and borders the municipality of Paderne. Its beach has a characteristic half-shell shape and the sand is white and fine. Additionally, it features vegetation surrounding the area and includes a section protected by the Natura 2000 Network, a European organization of preserved natural spaces that incorporates Sites of Community Importance and Special Protection Areas for Birds. It is approximately 450 meters long and has a promenade. Its waters are calm with anchorage areas and it is where the Lambre River flows into, with ebb and flood currents.

A Ponte do Porco is a 14th-century medieval viaduct that connects the municipality of Paderne, with the Lambre River flowing underneath. It was commissioned by Fernán Pérez de Andrade O Boo with the purpose of linking Betanzos and Pontedeume and extended to Ferrol to facilitate commercial exchanges and also to establish connections on the English Way to Santiago for pilgrims.

Currently, above this bridge, there is another used as a national road, built in 1862 by Queen Isabel II using materials from the old bridge. Legend has it that the lord of Pontedeume, Nuno Freire de Andrade, had three children: two sons and a daughter named Tareixa. She was a very lively young woman who greatly enjoyed nature, sometimes being mischievous and absent-minded. For this reason, her father entrusted her safety to Roxín Roxal, a young man in his service who, thanks to his great qualities, earned the trust and affection of his lord.

As they spent time together, they gradually fell in love. At first, the young man was happy, but as time passed, he felt increasingly unhappy because he could not openly declare his love. During the hours he was not with his beloved, he sang beautiful love songs or watched from the tower the Andrade castle where his beloved lived.

The young man, out of loyalty and respect for Nuno, was unable to confess his love to Tareixa, but seeing how unhappy he was, she decided to confess that her love was mutual, and they began to see each other. However, their relationship was short-lived because when the girl's father found out, he ordered Roxín to stay away from her and remain always at the Andrade castle. Although Nuno felt great affection for his laborer, he could not allow him to marry his daughter since he was not from a noble family, and he had already promised his daughter's hand to Henrique Osorio, a descendant of a wealthy and noble family. The young man, out of loyalty to his lord, obeyed the orders and was rewarded with a precious and luxurious dagger.

Shortly after, Tareixa married Henrique Osorio, but she felt very unhappy and missed Roxín Roxal greatly. Many days she climbed the Pontedeume tower to look far away at the castle where her only love was.

At some point, Nuno learned that a huge boar was destroying and ruining the crops on his lands and that several peasants had died trying to kill it. Analyzing the situation, he entrusted his son-in-law with organizing a hunt to capture it.

He asked his wife Tareixa, who was an expert in moving through those lands and skilled with weapons, to accompany him. Tareixa agreed, and they went in search of the animal. Shortly after, they found the wild animal on the Fernán Pérez de Andrade bridge, which was built to establish a profitable connection between Pontedeume and Betanzos, as they were his fiefs.

When the boar was in front of them, Henrique shot an arrow that hit it, and enraged by the pain caused by the wound, it fiercely attacked Tareixa until killing her and escaped wounded. Her husband, instead of protecting and helping his wife, jumped into the river from the bridge parapet to shelter from the beast.

A few days later, the boar was found dead on the bridge with the dagger that had been gifted to the laborer embedded in it. The lord of Pontedeume understood with sorrow and torment that he should have allowed the marriage between his daughter and Roxín. He realized that, although Roxín was not from a noble family but a simple commoner, he would have defended or even given his life for his beloved daughter.

To know it better

Miño is a coastal municipality located in the Rías Altas of Galicia, more specifically, in the Betanzos estuary, within the province of A Coruña. Miño borders Pontedeume to the north, Vilarmaior to the east, and the municipalities of Paderne and Irixoa to the south. It is a municipality that attracts a lot of tourism thanks to its five main beaches: Playa Grande, Playa la Ribera, Playa la Alameda, Playa de Perbes, and Playa Lago. Additionally, through the municipality, we can enjoy the passage of three rivers: the Lambre River, which has its mouth at A Ponte do Porco; the Baxoi River, which flows to its mouth at Playa Grande; and the third, the Xarío River, which passes through the parishes of San Xoán de Vilanova and Perbes, emptying into Playa Grande de Miño.

A Ponte do Porco is a small locality where the Lambre River flows into the sea and is especially known for its Alameda beach and its bridge. The old bridge dates back to 1862 and features a wild boar's head sculpted on one of its arches. According to legend, the name of the village comes from the story of the family of Don Nuno Freire de Andrade. The family had great affection for their page, and for this reason, Don Nuno gifted him a silver dagger. Don Nuno's daughter, Tareixa, fell in love with that servant, but when her father found out, he decided to marry Tareixa to a nobleman: Don Henrique Osorio. This nobleman wanted to win over his wife and, to follow tradition, proposed going on a wild boar hunt. During the hunt, Don Henrique wounded the boar but did not kill it, and the boar mortally wounded Tareixa. Her husband, feeling great fear of the boar, cowardly decided to throw himself off the bridge. According to the legend, a few days later, the dead boar appeared on the bridge with the silver dagger, and for this reason, the bridge is known as A Ponte do Porco.