The Lines of Torres Vedras were lines of forts and other military defences built in secrecy to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. Named after the nearby town of Torres Vedras, they were ordered by Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, constructed by Colonel Richard Fletcher and his Portuguese workers between November 1809 and September 1810, and used to stop Marshal Masséna's 1810 offensive. The Lines were declared a National Heritage by the Portuguese Government in March 2019.

Development

At the beginning of the Peninsular War (1807–14) France and Spain signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau in October 1807. This provided for the invasion and subsequent division of Portuguese territory into three kingdoms. Subsequently, French troops under the command of General Junot entered Portugal, which requested support from the British. In July 1808 troops commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, the later Duke of Wellington, landed in Portugal and defeated French troops at the Battles of Roliça and Vimeiro. This forced Junot to negotiate the Convention of Cintra, which led to the evacuation of the French army from Portugal. In March 1809, Marshal Soult led a new French expedition that advanced south to the city of Porto before being repulsed by Portuguese-British troops and forced to withdraw. After this retreat, Wellesley's forces advanced into Spain to join 33,000 Spanish troops under General Cuesta. At Talavera, some southwest of Madrid, they encountered and defeated 46,000 French soldiers under Marshal Claude Victor. After the Battle of Talavera, Wellington realised that he was seriously outnumbered by the French army, giving rise to the possibility that he could be forced to retreat to Portugal and possibly evacuate. He decided to strengthen the proposed evacuation area around the Fort of São Julião da Barra on the estuary of the River Tagus, near Lisbon.

Planning

thumb|Map of the Lines of Torres Vedras

In October 1809, Wellington, drawing on topographical maps prepared by José Maria das Neves Costa, and making use of a report that was prepared for General Junot in 1807, surveyed the area north of Lisbon with Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Fletcher. Eventually they chose the terrain from Torres Vedras to Lisbon because of its mountainous characteristics. From north to south, great undulations created peaks that straddled deep valleys, great gullies and wide ravines. The rugged and inhospitable area offered numerous possibilities for a stubborn rearguard fight from forts on many of the peaks.

Following the decision on the location, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Fletcher ordered the work to begin on a network of interlocking fortifications, redoubts, escarpments, dams that flooded large areas, and other defences. Roads were also built to enable troops to move rapidly between forts. The work was supervised by Fletcher, assisted by Major John Thomas Jones, and 11 other British Officers, four Portuguese Army Engineers, and two KGL officers. The cost was less than £200,000 according to the Royal Engineers, one of the least expensive but most productive military investments in history.

When the results of the surveys by the Royal Engineers were completed, it was possible, in February 1810, to begin work on 150 smaller interlinking defensive positions, using, wherever possible, the natural features of the landscape. The work was accelerated after the loss to the French of the fortress at the Siege of Almeida in August 1810, which prompted the public conscription of Portuguese labourers to work on the lines. The works were sufficiently complete to halt the advance of the French troops, who arrived in October of the same year. Even after the French had retreated from Portugal, construction of the lines continued in expectation of their return, and in 1812 34,000 men were still working on them. On completion there were 152 fortifications with a total of 648 cannon. The entire construction was carried out in great secrecy and the French never became aware of it. Only one report appeared in the London newspapers, a major source of information for Napoleon. It is said that the British government did not know about the forts and was stunned when Wellington first said in dispatches that he had retreated to them. Even the British Ambassador in Lisbon appears to have been unaware of what was happening.

thumb|The Fort of Subserra. No 114 of the forts in the Lines. Also known as the Fort of Alhandra

The second section extended from Arruda to the west of Monte Agraço, which was crowned by the very large fort now known as the Fort of Alqueidão, mounting twenty-five guns, with three smaller forts to support it. Monte Agraço itself was held by Pack's brigade with Anglo-Portuguese 5th Division (Leith's) in reserve behind it, while the less completely fortified country to the east was entrusted to the British Light Division.

The third section stretched from the west of Monte Agraço for nearly to the gorge of the river Sizandro, a little to south of Torres Vedras. This was strengthened by two redoubts which commanded the road from Sobral to Montachique. Here, therefore, were concentrated the 1st, 4th, and 6th divisions, under the eye of Wellington himself, who established his headquarters at Pero Negro, where he remained from approximately 16 October 1810 to 15 November 1810.

The last and most westerly section of the first line ran from the gorge of the Sizandro to the sea, a distance of nearly , more than half of which, however, on the western side had been rendered impassable by the damming of the Sizandro and by the conversion of its lower reaches into one huge inundation. The chief defence consisted of the entrenched camp of the Fort of São Vicente, a little to the north of Torres Vedras, which dominated the paved road leading from Leiria to Lisbon. The force assigned to this part of the Line was Picton's division.

Second line

The second line of defence was still more formidable. It can broadly be divided into three sections, from the Fort of Casa on the Tagus to Bucelas, from Bucelas to Mafra, and from Mafra to the sea, a total distance of . The main forts along this line that remain identifiable are three forts on the Serra da Aguieira that served to support the Fort of Casa in its defence of the River Tagus as well as covering the Bucelas Gorge. They also exchanged crossfire with the Fort of Arpim to their north, which was a link between the first and second lines as it was close to three other forts designed to protect the road from Bucelas to Alverca do Ribatejo. To the west of Bucelas was a line of hill-top forts dominated by the Montachique mountain. The mountain, at an altitude of 408 metres, was not fortified but was defended by what are today known as the Fort of Mosqueiro, the Fort of Ribas and others. Closer to Mafra, overlooking the town of Malveira, was the Fort of Feira, which was at the centre of a complex of 19 strongholds in the second Line. Mafra was one of the principle positions on the second line, with its defences being centred around the Tapada or royal park.

Memorial

thumb|Monument to the Defenders of the Lines of Torres Vedras at Alhandra

A monument commemorating the victory of the Anglo-Portuguese troops over the French armies and the construction of the Torres Vedras Lines was approved in 1874 and finished in 1883. Somewhat reminiscent of Nelson’s Column in London, the column is topped by a statue of the Classical Greek figure of Hercules. This was executed by the sculptor Simões de Almeida who was also responsible for the Monument to the Restorers in Lisbon. The column used marble from the parish of Pêro Pinheiro in Sintra municipality.

The monument was constructed near the village of Alhandra in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, on the site of the Boavista redoubt (originally numbered as work Number 3). It is close to work Number 114, the Fort of Subserra (also known as the Fort of Alhandra), which can be visited. In 1911, two plaques were added to acknowledge the contributions of Richard Fletcher and of José Maria das Neves Costa, on whose original topographic maps Wellington based his plans for the Lines.

EEA grants met the costs of 110 projects, while the municipalities funded the work at another 140 sites. Work involved included removal of excess vegetation, creation or restoration of access, archaeological studies, setting up of information boards, establishment of walking routes, and a Visitors' Centre in each municipality. A short distance from the museum just outside of the town, Fort of São Vicente and the Fort of Olheiros have been well conserved, with the former having a visitors' centre open Tue-Sun 10-1pm and 2-6pm. The visitors' centre has well-produced historic wall displays and a 20 min video. Other information centres along the lines are:

  • Lines of Torres Interpretation Centre at Bucelas Wine museum.
  • Fort of Casa
  • Interpretation Centre at Sobral de Monte Agraço
  • Centro Cultural do Morgado, Arruda dos Vinhos
  • Centro de Interpretação das Linhas de Torres de Mafra

In fiction

  • Death to the French, novel by C. S. Forester,
  • Sharpe's Gold, novel by Bernard Cornwell
  • Sharpe's Escape, novel by Bernard Cornwell
  • Lines of Wellington, film by Raúl Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento
  • How the Brigadier Saved An Army, short story by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Beyond the Sunrise, novel by Mary Balogh
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, novel by Susanna Clarke

References

Sources

Attribution:

Further reading

  • Lines 1 and 2 mapped on Google Maps
  • Friends of the Lines of Torres Vedras
  • Complete list of the different military works (In Portuguese)
  • British Historical Society of Portugal, which organizes regular guided visits to the forts.
  • Photographs and map of fort locations
  • 05 de Dezembro – Caminhada de Sobral de Monte Agraço – Forte do Alqueidão
  • More details on the military fortifications
  • The construction of São Vicente
  • Semaphore Tower Monte Socorro Historical Reconstruction of semaphore tower.
  • Lines of Torres Vedras Historical Trail: Guide .