Notes about the history of the bridges of Sunbilla

Abstract

The stone bridge of Sunbilla was built around 1562 on the same spot where there had previously been a wooden bridge, although there has been a firm base for about forty years close to the left bank of the Bidasoa River. The Consejo Real (Spanish Royal Council) ordered the bridge to be built entirely of stone in 1551, although for diverse reasons which are explained in the document, actual construction was delayed for a further eleven years. The stone bridge suffered the consequences later on –in 1625 and 1643– of the extraordinary rise in level of the river, which carried away the two main arches of the bridge with their corresponding pile in both years.