Arcos (Vila do Conde): Difference between revisions

Template:Geobox Arcos, which is civil parish in the municipality of Vila do Conde, but near the north-eastern frontier with the municipality of Barcleos Municipality, it lives in the shadow of its larger municipal neighbour. In 2001, its population was 826 inhabitants in an area of 5.81 km² that crosses the Ave River, and includes two principal localities: Arcos and Casais.

Tradition suggests that in the parish toponymy developed from the location of a Moorish castle, on a mountain with the same, and the siting of a Roman bridge near Monte da Reguenga. But, Arcos dates further back to the Castro culture, where two castro settlements in Moldes and Casais supported a nascent settlement. The Castro of Casais still presents vestiges of the castro culture and Roman artefacts. Its ex-libris the Roman-style bridge, actually dates back to the 12th century; in 1140, the bridge already existed, but historians point to a ancient bridge that crossed the Ave River. Medieval documents referred to it as the via vecteris (English: old road), alluding to its Roman history.

Since 1836, Arcos existed as a integral part of Vila do Conde.

Situated north of the Ave River, alongside the Este River, it is sheltered by the municipality of Póvoa de Varzim, in the north-eastern parish of Vila do Conde. Yet, owing to its distance from the municipal seat, Póvoa de Varzim and Vila Nova de Famalicão, it lives in the shadow of the much larger urban community of Barcelos.

The Roman-style Ponte d'Ave (later Ponte de São Miguel) that crosses the Ave River, travels north in the direction of Rates, and eventually to Santiago de Compostela.

• Ponte de São Miguel - along the regional EN 306 roadway outside Arcos, the Medieval bridge is of a cantilever construction of granite with three archs dating back to the 12th century; the voussoir (arching bricks) are straight, extra-hard but irregular, with the central arch the largest of the construction.

• José Maria Campos Trocado - responsible for contributing, in the area of Rego, a cross to mark the parishes Christianism, which was inaugurated in December 2009