Puerta Nueva

Located at the entrance to the town of Segura de la Sierra, Puerta Nueva presents a basket arch, open on a crenelated wall resting on a square base and in Town Hall.

It is built of well-constructed ashlars on the door, merlons and edges of the blocks, and rough for the rest. The construction of the basket arch was most likely during the final decades of the 15th and the start the 16th centuries. It likely replaced an older access which was flanked by two towers, though the one that remains today is quite restored.

The parapet was accessed by crossing an area between both towers through a door opened on the ground floor of the town hall, dated from the 16th century. On its lower part it is possible that the slopes of the terrain made some places collapse, which would be rebuilt with a stone wall of a thickness under 60 cm., quite weak for fiscal purposes, whereas we assume that its functions were by then exclusively an enclosure. Possibly, the renovations were implemented the first half of the 16th century when Segura de la Sierra was undergoing a notable expansion. However, given that almost immediately the agricultural crisis that would sink the economy of Castile would ensue, the space must have been left practically deserted.

Puerta Nueva is opposite the City Hall and from here lies a viewpoint for contemplating Cerro de San Vicente, where the remains of the old shrine of the same name remain (13th century).

The Moors assessed the importance of their medinas by the number of entrance gates, Segura de la Sierra had five, four for transit of people and one for horses. Three of the five gates to the walled exterior of the Villa remain: Puerta Nueva, Puerta de la Villa and Puerta Catena; only a few remains still exist of the Góntar and Herrada doors.