Urban core. Village located on a hillside. Medieval village of royal jurisdiction with castle and urban fence. Medieval fortified urban center, with Manueline and 16th century interventions. Composed by the juxtaposition of two walled cores: the first, with an oval layout, integrates the Castle and is structured from a main axis of connection between the door and the mother church. The second core, with an irregular layout, maintains the axial structure fixed on the R. Right.

Castro Mendi is the name given in the oldest document (1202) referring to Castelo Mendo. Although the place has known occupation since the Bronze Age and shows traces of the Roman presence, the fortified structure and the urban model that characterize Castelo Mendo, are a medieval creation designed to face the needs imposed by the Christian Reconquest in the 12th and 13th centuries: promoting the repopulation of the Muslim territories annexed to the Portuguese kingdom and to sustain territorial border disputes with the Christian kingdoms of Leon and Castile in the region of Riba-Côa.