União das freguesias de Ponte da Barca, Vila Nova de Muía e Paço Vedro de Magalhães

Parish of the town of Ponte da Barca, created in 2013, where the ferry boat across the river Lima gave the land its name. It features a Manueline pillory, a bridge over the Lima and the Paço Vedro de Magalhães.

The União das freguesias de Ponte da Barca, Vila Nova de Muía e Paço Vedro de Magalhães is located in the municipality of Ponte da Barca, in the district of Viana do Castelo, and includes the municipal seat. It was created in 2013, as part of the national administrative reorganisation, by merging the former parishes of Ponte da Barca, Vila Nova de Muía and Paço Vedro de Magalhães. The former parish of Ponte da Barca covered 0.95 km² and had 2,371 inhabitants in 2011.<p>The town takes its name from an old ferry boat (barca) that carried pilgrims along the route to Santiago across the river Lima. The bridge was only built in the mid-14th century, and around 1450 the name 'S. João de Ponte da Barca' appeared, later shortened. Before that, in the inquiries of 1220, the land was referred to as Terra da Nóbrega.<p>Ponte da Barca received its royal charter from D. Teresa in 1125, confirmed by D. Afonso II in 1217, and a new charter from D. Manuel I in 1513, who ordered the construction of the pillory. The market arcades were built in 1752. The navigator Fernão de Magalhães came from Paço Vedro, in Magalhães.<p>In the town stand the Pelourinho (pillory), the bridge over the river Lima, the Igreja de São João Baptista (Church of São João Baptista), the Cruzeiro do Curro and the Ponte do Rio Vade.