Spain · 13th century
The Rocha Forte Castle is a ruined fort near Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, Spain. It was first mentioned in written documents from 1253, but it had probably been built earlier.
The castle was situated in a strategic location by road from Padrón to Santiago, on the pilgrimage route from Portugal. The castle is not on top of a hill as many other forts are, but in a valley where it could control all of the traffic into town.
In addition to its purpose for defence, the castle was also a home for the Archbishop, which could provide the men of the local church a shelter from rioting citizens. In 1317, Berenguel de Landoira was nominated as Archbishop. The residents did not like him and started a rebellion. Archbishop Landoira had all the leaders of the rebellion executed. In the 15th century in Irmandiño wars the castle was damaged badly and it was abandoned. Later, in 1472 the walls were dismantled. During the Franco era the ruins were used as a hideout. In 1962, an electricity pylon was installed to the castle area.
Text adapted from “Rocha Forte Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castle da Rocha Forte ranks #3,299 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #126 of the 607 mapped in Spain. Founded 1253, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.
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