Old Castle

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Castro de São Lourenço, Vila Chã - Esposende, Braga - Portugal

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Hidden in the Forest [link]

O Castro de S. Lourenço tem as suas raízes no Bronze Final, nos alvores do I milénio antes de Cristo, encontra-se no monte do mesmo nome, ao Norte de Esposende, perto de Vila Chã, a uma altura de 200m acima do mar, num dos esporões graníticos da arriba fóssil que se estende desde o monte de Palmeira de Faro até S. Paio de Antas. [link]
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Castro culture is the archaeologists' descriptor for the culture of the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula (roughly present-day northern Portugal, Galicia, Asturias and northern and western León), from the end of the Bronze Age (9th century BC) until the 1st century AD.

The most notable and permanent characteristic of this culture is their walled villages and hill forts, known as castros (from Latin castrum, castle). The area of these villages extends as far as the Cares river to the east and to the Douro River in the south.

The culture began to develop during the late Bronze Age as a result of strong cultural influence on the indigenous cultures coming from Central Europe and the Atlantic and Mediterranean areas. In the formative period that followed, which lasted until the 5th century BC, the castros extended from south to north and from the coast to the interior of the Iberian Peninsula.

The culture continued to expand and develop for about two centuries, until it began to be influenced by the Roman Republic in the 2nd century BC. The culture went through somewhat of a transformation, as a result of the Roman conquest and formation of the Roman province of Gallaecia in the heart of the Castro cultural area, until it finally died out in the 1th Century AD. [link]