Porqueira

Porqueira is a concello (municipality) in the west of the A Limia district, in the province of Ourense, where the valley of the river Limia narrows between the plain and the Bande and Xurés ranges. Its main village is A Forxa, at the foot of a medieval tower that is the symbol of the municipality ^[4][5].

Municipal data

The population fell from 1,151 in 2003 to 859 in 2016, but has since held at around eight hundred: 806 in 2025 ^[4][1].

Landscape

Porqueira borders Rairiz de Veiga to the north, Xinzo de Limia to the east, Calvos de Randín and Os Blancos to the south, and Bande and Muíños, outside the district, to the west. The river Limia forms its northern boundary, and the Fírbeda runs down through the municipality with its waterfalls ^[17]. According to the Royal Galician Academy, the name Porqueira refers to the abundance of wild boar, porcos bravos ^[8].

History

The monastery and the tower

The Middle Ages were Porqueira’s golden age, with a monastery and a castle ^[4]. The origins of the monastery are unknown; by the mid-12th century it was run by Augustinian canons, and documents from 1181 to 1228 record gifts from kings Ferdinand II and Alfonso IX to the diocese of Ourense ^[4]. It later passed to the Hieronymites, who had no other house in what is now the province of Ourense; the prior was abbot of San Lourenzo, lord of Guía and Cartelas and feudal lord of A Forxa ^[4]. Nothing remains of the church or cloister, but the prior’s house survives, converted into a manor ^[6].

The castle, built in the 12th century to defend the border, was given by Alfonso VII to Ourense cathedral in 1157, and in 1204 Alfonso IX sold the bishop all he owned in Porqueira for 2,500 sueldos ^[5]. In spring 1387 it was briefly occupied by the Duke of Lancaster during the war of succession to the Castilian throne, and in the 15th century it withstood an attack by the Irmandiño rebels ^[5]. Only the keep survives, entered by a Romanesque door high above the ground and reached by a twenty-step stair ^[5]. It was one of four fortresses that watched over the Lagoa de Antela, along with those of Sandiás, Celme and A Pena ^[6].

An undocumented tradition holds that King García of Galicia was imprisoned in the tower and, pursued by his brother, fled from it to "the Moors of Portugal" ^[7][6].

Bishops and scholars

Paradela de Abeleda was the birthplace of Pedro Seguín, bishop of Ourense from 1157 to 1169, according to Juan Muñoz de la Cueva’s history of the cathedral (1772) ^[9]. Pedro González de Ulloa, abbot of Covelas and author of the Descripción de los Estados de la Casa de Monterrey (1777), was born at Xocín in 1714 ^[10]. Under the old regime San Lourenzo belonged to the jurisdiction of Rairiz de Veiga ^[9].

The municipality and the 20th century

When the municipality was created in 1837 its offices were set up in the tower; it later passed into private hands and nearly disappeared when it was put up for sale as a quarry ^[4][5]. Today it is a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC) and houses an interpretation centre on the Roman Vía Nova ^[5].

After the 1936 coup Casto Novoa, known as Cabezas, from A Forxa, fled to Portugal in December that year at the head of a group living from smuggling, and did not give himself up until 1940 ^[12]. In February 1949 a group of guerrillas from the II Agrupación spent four days hiding in a house in Quintás de Sabucedo; the Civil Guard, believing they were still inside, burned the house of its owner, Epifanio Feijoo Gándara, who ended up in Ourense prison with other villagers ^[11].

Heritage highlights

• Torre da Forxa, or Fírbeda tower, of granite ashlar, with a machicolation on corbels and a raised Romanesque door; Site of Cultural Interest ^[5].
• The parish churches of Santa María de Porqueira, San Martiño de Porqueira, San Lourenzo de Abeleda, San Xoán de Paradela de Abeleda, San Salvador de Sabucedo and San Mamede de Sobreganade.
• The Old Bridge of A Forxa and the Castelo de Paradela de Abeleda, both in the heritage catalogue ^[18].
• Stone hórreos (traditional raised granaries) and canastros, and the Fírbeda waterfalls ^[4][17].

Festivals

We have not found an official list of the municipality’s festivals. In Sobreganade the festa (parish festival) of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is held every year at her chapel ^[20].

Legends

• The devil’s white horse. Two men from Faramiñás coming back from the fair could not cross the Limia, which was in flood. A white horse appeared and they climbed on; the more the first man swore, the faster it ran, until the second prayed and the horse vanished mid-river, leaving them sitting on the stones ^[16].
• The moura of San Lourenzo (a mythical enchanted woman who guards treasures), with golden hair and a silver comb, to whom people said: "Moura, mouraza, / dame da túa riqueza / e eu douche da miña pobreza" ("Moura, give me some of your riches and I’ll give you some of my poverty") ^[17].
• The beams of A Forxa, one of gold and one of tar: whoever struck the tar beam would bring disaster ^[17].
• The caves of the Fírbeda waterfall, with passages no one knows the end of ^[17].

See Legends of A Limia.

Notable people

• Pedro Seguín, 12th-century bishop of Ourense, from Paradela de Abeleda ^[9].
• Pedro González de Ulloa (Xocín, 1714 – Covelas, 1790), Enlightenment cleric ^[10].
• Higinio Rodríguez Mármol (A Torre, 1886 – Xinzo de Limia, 1976), politician ^[14].
• Benito Rodríguez Rodríguez (O Rial, Sabucedo, 1895 – 1966), doctor and left-wing activist ^[13].
• The writer Carlos Casares spent part of his childhood at O Rial de Sabucedo, where some great-uncles lived ^[15].

Parishes

The concello has 6 parroquias (parishes, local territorial units) ^[3]:

Paradela de Abeleda · Porqueira · Sabucedo · San Lourenzo de Abeleda · San Martiño de Porqueira · Sobreganade

More about A Limia

• The A Limia district
• Xinzo de Limia
• Os Blancos
• History of A Limia

FAQ

Sources

1. INE, Padrón municipal. Cifras oficiales de población (table 2885), 2016–2025. https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Tabla.htm?t=2885
2. Wikidata, "Porqueira" (Q1631352). https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1631352 (CC0)
3. Xunta de Galicia / RAG, Nomenclátor de Galicia – Galicia Nomeada. https://galicianomeada.xunta.gal/sixtop/inicio
4. "Porqueira", Galipedia (in Galician). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porqueira (CC BY-SA 4.0)
5. "Torre de Fírbeda", Galipedia (in Galician; citing J. Á. Simal Lozano and N. Conde Cid, 2009, and the Xunta’s list of BICs). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_de_Fírbeda (CC BY-SA 4.0)
6. "Torre da Forxa", xinzodelimia.eu. http://www.xinzodelimia.eu/a_forxa.htm — Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20120305063306/http://www.xinzodelimia.eu/a_forxa.htm
7. Fronteira Esquecida, "Torre da Forxa" (citing X. Taboada Chivite, Los castillos, 1963, and R. Boga Moscoso, Guía dos castelos medievais de Galicia, 2003). https://fronteiraesquecida.eu/gl/fichas/torre-da-forxa-2/
8. Xunta de Galicia / RAG, "Sabías que…", toponimia.xunta.gal. https://toponimia.xunta.gal/gl/listado-de-sab-as-que?field_tipo_sabias_target_id=39&page=7
9. "San Lourenzo de Abeleda, Porqueira", Galipedia (in Galician). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Lourenzo_de_Abeleda,_Porqueira (CC BY-SA 4.0)
10. "Pedro González de Ulloa", Galipedia (in Galician). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_González_de_Ulloa (CC BY-SA 4.0)
11. Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo, "O maquis na Limia: queima da casa de Epifanio Feijoo en Sabucedo (Porqueira) e a reitoral de Couso de Salas (Muíños)", historiadexinzo.wordpress.com, 18/05/2020. https://historiadexinzo.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/o-maquis-na-limia-queima-da-casa-de-epifanio-feijoo-en-sabucedo-porqueira-e-a-reitoral-de-couso-de-salas-muinos/
12. "Limiaos fuxidos a Portugal (1936–1950)", historiadexinzo.wordpress.com, 10/04/2023. https://historiadexinzo.wordpress.com/2023/04/10/limiaos-fuxidos-a-portugal-1936-1950/
13. "Benito Rodríguez Rodríguez", Galipedia (in Galician). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Rodríguez_Rodríguez (CC BY-SA 4.0)
14. "Higinio Rodríguez Mármol", Galipedia (in Galician). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higinio_Rodríguez_Mármol (CC BY-SA 4.0)
15. Alexander de los Ríos Conde, "Carlos Casares, un neno da Limia", Vía Lethes, 15/05/2017. https://vialethes.es/carlos-casares-neno-da-limia
16. Antón Méndez Gándara, "O cabalo branco", Galicia Encantada, 2008. https://galiciaencantada.com/lenda.asp?cat=4&id=1258
17. Rafael José Adalid Rodríguez, "Contos, lendas e mitos da auga na Limia e pequenas achegas", Revista Galicia Encantada 16, 2020, p. 8. https://galiciaencantada.com/lenda.asp?cat=11&id=2886
18. Xunta de Galicia, Catálogo de patrimonio cultural do Plan Básico Autonómico. https://ideg.xunta.gal/servizos/rest/services/PBA/Afeccions_PatrimonioCultural/MapServer
19. Universidade de Vigo, Xentilicios de Galicia. https://www.uvigo.gal/sites/uvigo.gal/files/contents/paragraph-file/2018-10/Xentilicios_0.pdf
20. Unidade de Atención Pastoral de Santa Mariña de Xinzo, "Sobreganade". https://santamarinadexinzo.com/parroquias-atendidas-uap/sobreganade/