Alcoforados Tower

The Alcoforados Tower, locally known as Torre dos Alcoforados, stands near the town of Lordelo in the Área Metropolitana do Porto region in Portugal.

The tower is sometimes also known as 'Torre dos Mouros' (Tower of the Moors), or 'Torre Alta' (High Tower).

The Alcoforados Tower was probably built in the first half of the 14th century as a fortified residence on a granite outcrop in the valley of the Ferreira River. Although it is named after the Alcoforado family, who once owned it, it was probably founded by the Urrô family and later became part of a feudal estate of the Brandão family before passing to the Alcoforados. The tower was probably modified in the 15th century.

The tower is constructed of large, regular granite ashlar blocks, in a roughly square plan, with the main entrance situated on the first floor, and featuring Gothic-style windows. Internally, the tower originally had 2 wooden-floored upper levels with wooden stairs. The ruined tower was restored between 2014 and 2015.

Today, the Alcoforados Tower can be visited, but only by appointment, which I wasn't aware of before, so I only visited it externally. A nice tower.

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