The concello that covers much of the bed of the former Lagoa de Antela: potato fields and sand pits, the Torre do Castro over the plain, Roman milestones of the Vía Nova and the Casa da Lagoa, which tells the story of the drainage.
Sandiás is a concello (municipality) in the centre of the A Limia district, in the province of Ourense, between Xinzo and Allariz. Much of its land is the bed of the vanished Lagoa de Antela, now turned into potato fields and sand pits. On a hill stands the Torre do Castro, the remains of Sandiás’s medieval castle, which overlooks the whole plain [4][6].
It had 1,749 inhabitants in 1996, 1,286 in 2016 and 1,086 in 2025 [4][1].
Landscape and economy
Sandiás borders Allariz and Xunqueira de Ambía to the north, Xinzo de Limia and Sarreaus to the east and south, and Vilar de Santos to the west. It is crossed by the N-525 and the A-52 motorway, and the main village is 33 km from Ourense and 6 km from Xinzo [4]. The north-west of the municipality is hilly and wooded; the rest is flat farmland [4].
Potatoes are the main crop: Sandiás and Xinzo together account for 88% of the district’s land given over to them by full-time farmers, and the farms are larger than usual in Galicia thanks to the plots created by the drainage and land consolidation [4]. Almost all of A Limia’s sand pits are in this municipality: since the 1970s sand has been extracted from the old main channel of the lagoon, and the pools left behind have been re-naturalised [5][4]. Antela airfield has housed a Xunta firefighting base since 1997, and the provincial council runs the Antela Equestrian Centre here [10][4].
History
Lake dwellings, hillforts and the Vía Nova
The first inhabitants lived in pile dwellings on the shores of the lagoa (lagoon). In the 1950s the researcher Conde-Valvís studied three settlements of 58, 56 and 36 huts, known locally as cortellos, between Sandiás and Cortegada [4][5]. In the Metal Ages people moved to castros (Iron Age hillforts) such as O Castro near Sandiás and Monte Pendón in Piñeira de Arcos [4].
The Vía Nova, Roman road XVIII from Braga to Astorga, crossed the municipality. Its milestones survive at Vilariño das Poldras and Zadagós: those at Vilariño came to light in 1995, and the largest, dedicated to the emperor Maximinus and his son Maximus, has one of the best-preserved inscriptions on the road [5][7]. The Antonine Itinerary names a staging post called Geminas, which some place in Sandiás [4]. According to the Galipedia, the name of the municipality comes from a Germanic personal name, Sand-ila[4].
The Torre do Castro
Sandiás castle was probably built in the first half of the 12th century on an old hillfort, during the struggles between Alfonso VII and Afonso Henriques of Portugal over the county of A Limia [6][5]. It controlled the roads and goods crossing the Limia Alta [5]. In the 15th century it belonged to the count of Benavente, and in 1467 Alonso de Paredes’s Irmandiño rebels pulled it down and burned it with the help of a servant of the besieged; it was rebuilt afterwards [7][6]. During the 17th- and 18th-century wars with Portugal it served as a mustering point for troops heading to the border [7]. Today part of the keep survives; it had a basement, three floors and a roof terrace [6].
From the old regime to the drainage
The lordship of Sandiás belonged to the count of Benavente; Piñeira de Arcos came under the count of Maceda and Zadagós under the bishop of Valladolid [4]. In the 18th century flax supported a cottage textile industry: the Ensenada land survey counts 54 women weavers and 7 tailors [4]. The minor nobility then built or remodelled the manor houses of O Penedo, O Telleiro and O Espido [4][5]. In 1910 the politician Eduardo Cea Naharro hid the Portuguese monarchist Henrique Paiva Couceiro at the Pazo do Telleiro, in Couso de Limia, while he prepared raids from the border against the newly founded Portuguese Republic [4].
There were several attempts to drain the lagoon in the 19th century, from that of the magistrate Juan Toubes in 1827 to that of the Englishmen Stone and Freeman in 1874, and all failed because of opposition from local people, who lived from the livestock that grazed it [5]. The Law of 27 December 1956 declared the drainage of national interest, and the National Colonisation Institute transformed the landscape in three stages: drainage channels, irrigation and division into plots [4][5]. See Lagoa de Antela.
After the 1936 coup the brothers Antonio and Xesús Dios hid in the Uceira cave and in May 1937 fled to Portugal [12]. Sandiás was also the home of Camilo de Dios (1933–2019), a guerrilla courier from the age of thirteen, sentenced to death in 1949 (commuted because of his youth) and, after the return of democracy, a councillor in Sandiás and Xinzo [11].
Heritage highlights
Torre do Castro, with views over the bed of the former lagoon [6].
Casa da Lagoa, the Lagoa de Antela interpretation centre, opened by the Concello on the 50th anniversary of the start of the drainage works (1958–2008) [4][9].
Vía Nova milestones at Vilariño das Poldras and Zadagós [5][8].
Remains of the lagoon’s channel system, visible in the canal picnic area [4].
The churches of Santo Estevo de Sandiás, Santa María de Couso de Limia and San Xoán de Piñeira de Arcos, and the manor houses of O Penedo, O Telleiro and O Espido [4].
Festivals and legends
We have not found an official list of the municipality’s festivals. Its best-known legend is that of the well of the Torre do Castro: inside the tower a well leads to a hall full of gold guarded by a giant with an axe. To get in you must take a black hen and one of her eggs and smash the egg on the giant’s forehead; miss, and the giant kills the intruder [6]. Another legend says that in the 9th century the tower belonged to Sancho Díaz de Saldaña, father of Bernardo del Carpio [7].
According to the INE municipal register, 1,086 people as of 1 January 2025 [1].
What is the Casa da Lagoa?
The Lagoa de Antela interpretation centre, opened by the Concello on the 50th anniversary of the drainage, which explains how the lagoon formed, how it disappeared and how the old sand pits are being restored [4][9].
Where is the Torre do Castro?
On a hill above the village of O Castro; from its foot you can see the whole plain of the former lagoon [6].
Why are there so many sand pits in Sandiás?
Because the bed of the former lagoon is made of sand that is highly prized for building; almost all of A Limia’s sand pits are in this municipality [4][5].
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Quen pode solicitar unha parcela?
Agricultores profesionais en activo.
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Map of Sandiás
