Uniting the Celanova parish of Santa Cristina de Freixo and that of O Espiñoso, in the Cartelle town hall, is one of the best-preserved Roman bridges in the Galician community, the Freixo bridge (built between the 2nd and 3rd centuries). It is the only one that preserves its original shape almost intact , next to the Bibei (de Trives) and the Ponte Pedriña (today submerged under the waters of the As Conchas reservoir ).
This infrastructure allowed the crossing of the Arnoia River to a secondary route of the Vía Nova (Vía XVIII of the Antonino Itinerary), the one that goes from Aquis Querquennis to Lucus Augusti (Lugo). Its Roman style was recognized in the sixties, since then consecutive press articles and archaeological and technical reports were produced in which its poor state of conservation was denounced. This abandonment was due, in part, to the fact that a more modern bridge had been built a few meters downstream. After its declaration as a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1984, the following year it was included in the “Inventory of Historic Pontes of Galicia”.
Its construction characteristics are: about 57 meters long and 8 meters high , four semi-circular vaults with the following spans: 4.73 m., 7.78 m., 7.70 m. and 4.74 m. and the use of the so-called opus quadratum, of symmetrical granite ashlars (blocks of stone). Its piers (or pillars) are founded directly on the slate floor and have triangular cutwaters (buttresses) upstream. Its padded ashlar masonry varies according to the part in which it is located, being very uniform in terms of its measurements and arrangement in the abutments and the central pillar. In the intermediate piers, ashlars of greater dimensions and more random placement are used. This may be because an earthy filling was used in the first case and stone in the second. The upper platform is horizontal and its width is 4.60 m.
As we have already said previously, the bridge was in a dilapidated state, therefore the General Directorate of Historical Heritage of the Xunta de Galicia decided to repair it in 1988. The restoration works were carried out between October of that same year and June 1989. The team of engineers in charge of the project decided to make it pedestrian, to rescue its functionality.The restoration enhanced the Roman padded stallsOn the other hand, they wanted to clearly differentiate between the elements of the original structure and those added; the reconstructed elements were made in straight ashlar masonry and the primitive padded ashlars were dismantled and reassembled, to repair deficiencies. The road was made with a horizontal grade and a layer of gravel, except for the outer parts of the vaults (or backsplashes), to expose them. It was finished off with a simple wooden parapet (railing), which can be easily disassembled when you want to replace it with a stone one as would be the original.
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