THE BRIDGE OVER THE EUME RIVER

We are going to cross the bridge over the river Eume, a bridge that gives its name to the town of Pontedume (Ponte do Eume).

There is no evidence to suggest that there was a bridge here during Roman times, if there were, there are no remains left, for which it is supposed that such a bridge was made of wood. The current bridge has its origins in the 14th century (between 1380 and 1386), surely under the protection and initiative of Fernán Pérez de Andrade “O Bo”, who is considered the developer of other bridges in the area between the Xubia and Lambre rivers.  The bridge had 78 arches (other sources say 63. Martín Sarmiento suggests that there were only 61 and that it was narrow), that were gradually reduced with time; it had two towers and in its centre there was a pilgrim hospital, called “Espíritu Santo” or “Holy Spirit”, run by the Franciscan monks from the convent of Monte Faro. On the far side of Pontedueme, sculptures of a boar and a bear were placed, symbols of the noble house of Andrade; on the Cabanas side was a transept. All these “superfluous” elements of the bridge’s structure disappeared between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. 

That which remains of the medieval bridge was replaced in 1870 by another new one which lasted only four years, then, in December 1874, a river surge carried it away. The current image of the bridge is owed to the 1889 project.