Santiago de Outão Fort – Setúbal – Virtual Tour
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Santiago de Outão Fort – Setúbal
The oldest structure identified in the place of Outão is a watchtower or watchtower on the coast, built by order of D. João I (1385-1433) in 1390. Later, during the reign of D. Manuel (1495-1521), would have benefited.
First Fort
During the reign of D. Sebastião (1568-1578) he underwent extensive works of modernization and expansion (1572), when a bastioned fence was erected around the primitive tower, in charge of the master of the fortification works, Afonso Álvares.
During the succession crisis of 1580, together with the town of Setúbal, this fort remained faithful to D. António, prior to Crato. Under the command of Mendo Mota, his garrison of a hundred men, with 47 artillery pieces, resisted Spanish forces under the command of the Duke of Alba, from 22 to 24 July.
At the time of the Philippine Dynasty, the officers of the Casa do Corpo Santo, an important institution in Setúbal, required the sovereign to install, on the premises of this fort, a lighthouse to aid navigation (1625). The work on this lighthouse was funded by that institution.
Faced with the outbreak of the Restoration of independence, the garrison of the fort remained loyal to D. Filipe III (1621-1640) until December 8, 1640.
Actual Forte
In the context of the complete remodelling of the defensive strategy of the kingdom implemented under the reign of D. João IV (1640-56), included in the defence of the Setúbal bar, new and extensive works of modernization and reinforcement were initiated.
Cosmander worked on them in 1642, the cornerstone to be laid on July 30, 1643, according to an epigraphic plaque on the door of the Casa da Guarda, in the stretch of wall on the seaside.
The tower of this Santiago do Outão fortress was built by El Rei Dom João o Primeiro and then surrounded by a wall by El Rei D. Sebastião and the serene D. João IV, liberator of the country, had the fortress added to the part of the sea and land with magnificence and grandeur that is seen today. D. Fernando de Menezes, count of Ericeira, laid the first stone for him in the XXV of July of MDCILIII and as governor of it Manuel da Silva Mascarenhas and of the arms of Setúbal and his comarca and superintendent of the fortification João de Saldanha had this memory put here this year of MDCILIX.
On August 4, 1644, the sovereign warned Manuel da Silva Mascarenhas to complete the works as soon as possible. In this period, the owners of the salt marines and the navigators of Casa do Corpo Santo contributed to the works of defence of the Setúbal coast, and the works of this fort were completed in 1657.
Faced with the progressive loss of its defensive functions in the face of the evolution of the means of war, it was dismantled in the 19th century, and its facilities were used as a prison. Later, in 1890, he underwent adaptation works for the summer residence of D. Carlos (1889-1908) and his wife, D. Maria Amélia de Orleans, works under the responsibility of engineer Xavier da Silva.
