Within the region of Valencia, the most varied and best preserved group of civilian buildings and public and industrial works dating from the Middle Ages are found in the county of Morella. Town halls, ovens, guild halls, hospitals, boundary markers, fountains, cisterns, aqueducts, roads, mills and bridges all give us a glimpse of everyday life in another age, in a way that only architecture can. Some of these constructions are still being used for the purposes for which they were originally built.

 

They are even more interesting because until recently often not only isolated buildings but also the planning of the land that gives them meaning and the landscape surrounding them have been conserved. There is no question that the rural geography and the prosperous economy of Els Ports de Morella county during the Middle Ages gave rise to the construction of numerous public and civil works. Yet the subsequent economic decline in subsequent periods led them to be renovated to a lesser extent than in more powerful counties.

 

The spectacle of being able to witness endless flocks of sheep cross the Pobleta de Sant Miquel bridge in Villafranca is a reminder of the wealth garnered from livestock and wool exports in this county. The same image brings to mind the fact that this very wealth and the wool exports to the emerging markets in Tuscany and Venice would not have been possible without sound transport routes.

 

The mediaeval bridges, or those from a mediaeval tradition, in the county of Els Ports de Morella, are a homogeneous group. They are made with pointed or semicircular vaults, solid tympana and ridged or inclined upper panels. Generally speaking, they have a single arch. When the watercourse to cross is wide, there is always a main arch along with a secondary one. The largest vaults are made of ashlars, while the vaults with smaller spans are built with ashlars in springers and stones laid on springers with toothing stones in the angles, while the remaining vaults are made with masonry joined with limestone mortar. The rest of the bridge is built with stone slabs and masonry. The foundations made of reinforced masonry . These bridges are often associated with traditional ancient mills, and one interesting feature of all the bridges is that they are built in uniquely beautiful settings. A visit to the all historical bridges in the Els Ports county shows how the wise choice of location coupled with intelligent and bold layout produces an aesthetic effect solely comparable with that of the best architectures.

 

These monuments can be visited as you please.