Bestigium / Mérida
Bridge · 1 layer

Medieval bridge of Las Tiendas

A granite masonry bridge near the hamlet of Las Tiendas, in the municipality of Mérida (Badajoz), some 14 km north-west of the town. The structure crosses a small seasonal stream on granite bedrock, and consists of several round arches built of granite ashlar. The setting is the typical Extremaduran dehesa, with holm oaks and rock outcrops.

Bestigium
Type
Bridge
Preservation
Standing
Protection
Coordinates
39.00048, -6.47417
Photographs
1
The site

What it is and what is left

Its exact date has not been established with precision in the academic literature: although catalogued on Vici.org as a «medieval bridge», the building technique of round granite arches is consistent with both late Roman and Christian medieval architecture (13th–15th centuries), the period when the district was resettled after the reconquest. The area holds the site of the Roman villa of El Hinojal (Dehesa de Las Tiendas), showing continuity of human occupation since Roman times.

The bridge is partly preserved, with some arches in poor condition, but the structure is recognisable over the stream bed. No official heritage listing is recorded. (Location approximate.)

The section

What each period left here

It reads downwards: each band is a period with fabric in this site, newest first, deepest last.

13th – 15th c. Level 1
0 facts
1 photographs
Christian medieval

Christian medieval

This site has fabric from this period. Mérida has 8 more sites built in the same layer.

See the whole layer →
Bestigium
Bottom of the section

Below the deepest layer of each site is the ground itself: what has not been excavated yet, or what left nothing built. The catalogue only claims what is documented.

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