The Torre de Sande de Cartelle sits on a rocky mound of 506 meters from which a very complete territory is dominated and that is why the silhouette of the tower itself can also be seen many kilometers around.
Today it is in the private hands of the Reza family, a family that has not yet reached an agreement for its transfer and possible conditioning by the municipality or the competent authorities. Meanwhile, the remains remain in oblivion and total abandonment.
We do not know if its structure stands on a fort, as it happens in many other castles in Galicia. What we do know is that scarce 1 km away there are the remains of a castrexo site in the place of O Castro, of which Pascual Madoz in his 19th century dictionary tells that there were two large stones one on top of the other with a large trunk of cork oak between them. The same dictionary tells us that the old tower was the home of Arabs.
The origin of the castle is uncertain, but we already know of its existence in the 12th century, when Kings Alfonso VII and Berenguela donated the Torre de Sande to the Monastery of Celanova. It is possible that the situation of the tower is due to strategic reasons of control of communication routes and also to the confrontations with Portugal, a country that seized the square after the battle between Fernando II of León and Alfonso Henriques, which occurred in 1165 .
It is a rocky castle, where only the keep is preserved today, which is in poor condition, built of granite blocks. Its base is rectangular, exactly 6.4 by 5.8 meters, with its 13 meters high.
In the upper part there is still a small stone of arms of the Sande lineage. The access door opens at the height of the first floor, facing east, under the door there are two corbels and several lapidary signs.
The tower is crowned by battlements on an overhang, of which some corbels are preserved.
A few centuries later we have evidence of the tower belonging to Paio Rodríguez de Araujo who served the kings of Castile in the 14th century.
In the following century it suffered the attack of the enraged Irmandiños, who destroyed the fortification which was later rebuilt. In the 19th century it remains in total neglect to this day.
In 1949 it was protected by the Spanish Historical Heritage Law and declared of National Tourist Interest.
Its access is quite complicated due to its location on the rock. It can only be accessed from the West and for this we must climb a few rocks.
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