page_title: Castle of Paderne
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Castle of Paderne / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Paderne Morrish Castle in the Algarve Portugal November 2007 Photo taken by Beechgrove
context_page_description: The Castle of Paderne is an ancient fortification located in the civil parish of Paderne, municipality of Albufeira, in the Portuguese Algarve. It was constructed in the later 12th century by Berbers, in an area around 7.5 kilometres inland. The edifice is located just 8.2 kilometres from the resort town of Albufeira, along a bend in the Quarteira River. It is believed to be one of the original castles that occupy the shield of the Portuguese national flag.
context_section_description: The rural, isolated castle is located on a high hilltop over a profound valley, covered in Mediterranean vegetation, olive groves, fig and carob trees. Its lies in a zone classified under the Natura 2000 designation, with a pedestrian trail under the Instituto de Conservação da Natureza (Institute for the Conservation of Nature).
  The castle is a regular trapezoidal plan, almost a hectare in size, surrounded by walls, with a road that links to a tower across a Roman arch bridge. Within the interior are vestiges of a longitudinal chapel, with only the walls remaining.
  The eastern side, which has the least natural defence has a substantial tower and is built of Taipa (mixture of mud, chalk, lime and aggregate that sets like concrete). This tower, the only one standing within the enclosure, protrudes from the wall and is connected to the main fortification by an upper passageway. From the outside of this tower is still possible to make out the whitewash strips which were applied to the taipa joints in order to give the impression that the tower was built from masonry. Nevertheless, these mud walls are 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) thick and are constructed on a substantial stone plinth which can be seen at the base of the perimeter walls. There are also at intervals, vertical openings to allow for drainage of any accumulative water inside the castle walls.
  Below the tower are the remains of ramparts, which ran across the eastern perimeter: most of it has collapsed. This battlement, which is lower than the main walls also defended the main access to the castle. The accessway is at a right angle to the main wall, creating an "L"-shaped entrance designed to make any frontal attack difficult. Not all the stonework in the entrance is original; much of the access was reinforced and restored over time.
  Within the castle precinct are the remnants of a cistern.
  Along the south wall are the ruins of the former Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Castelo, which was the parochial church for the nearby village, dating from the 14th century, but abandoned in 1506 (when the new church was constructed in the village).
caption: The tower/gate connected by walkway
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "X600,D630,FE5500", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.6", "Image DateTime": "2018:10:06 14:38:57", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "968", "Image CustomRendered": "'0'", "Image ExposureMode": "'0'", "Image WhiteBalance": "'0'", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0/100", "Image SceneCaptureType": "'1'", "Image GainControl": "'0'", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "256", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "192", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1814", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8113", "EXIF ExposureTime": "3/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:11:26 12:24:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:11:26 12:24:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera"}