mountain "with Impregnable fortress that still conserved its Walls". The shelter at Balsamão was consecrated on 12 April 1746, construction alongside the primitive hermitage, by the abbey of Vinhas, Father Roque de Sousa Pimentel. During the construction of the convent, the workers discovered Roman coins and bones. On 28 February 1758, Gaspar da Rocha Ferreira wrote in the Memórias Paroquiais of the parish, referring to a sanctuary with its seven chapels. In addition, legend holds, that by tradition they offered its poor residents on every Monday after Easter, a cow or bull, which they determined by election. The fortification at the time had some walls. When they performed public works in the local, workers found a necropolis with graves carved with inscriptions. With the extinction of the religious orders, in 1834, part of the courtyard was auctioned to the public and the castle passed into the hands of private property holders. The property owner in 1954, Dr. António Meneses Cordeiro and his daughter, Maria Leopoldina, and her husband, Dr. Acácio Vítor Ferreira, ceded the property to the Congregação de Padres Marianos da Imaculada Conceição (Congregational Marian Priests of the Immaculate Conception), who began to administer the locale. By that time, the castle included the base of the towers, and various walls. Architecture The castle remains are located in a rural, isolated position, from the seat of the parish, almost at the top of Mount Balsamão, formerly Monte Carrascal, at above sea level. It was constructed partly over a rocky surface, adapted to the flanks of the terrain and restricted by the roadway. The interior of the high fortification walls, is covered in pine and vegetation. At the top of the mountain is the Convent of Balsamão and along the flanks, the eight chapels of the Passos da Paixão de Cristo (Way of the Passion of Christ) that comprise the sanctuary and, immediately near the wall, the Capela dos Cajados (Chapel of Cajados) and cemetery. The hilltop is supported by the Azibo River, to the south (a tributary of Sabor), crossed by the Ponte de Paradinha, and in the north, the Ribeira de Veiga. The medieval fortification, was constructed at the top of a mountain, and includes a subsystem of curvilinear walls constructed of masonry stone and integrated with rectangular corbels. The castle was occupied since the Iron Age, with excellent natural defensive conditions, but the only remains on the site