Parroquia San Mamede de Millerada

There are two well-preserved hill forts in Millerada, the Rodeiras hill fort, near Garellas, which still has defences all around the enclosure and where remains of primitive dwellings have been discovered, and the Mouteira hill fort, in Fixó, which is circular in shape, with a moat and an antecastro.
The parish church is perhaps the most beautiful in Terra de Montes. It has a Latin cross plan and a rectangular apse, with the arms at a different height to the main body. The façade is made up of a first body finished in gables with a small pinnacle on each of them, and the bell tower is made up of three bodies, the first quadrangular, the second hexagonal, with both pointed arches, and the third forming a hexagonal cupuliño of shell. Inside, the chapel of Los Remedios stands out, with a beautiful altarpiece from the early 18th century, a worthy representative of the popular baroque school, the work of the artist Felipe García, with ornamentation based on garlands, flowers, leaves and fruit. We will also find a beautiful image of the Virgin by the sculptor Rodeiro Seoane from Compostela, and the coat of arms of the Soto-Varela y Ogando family, which belonged to the last of the Xuíces-meriños and first Mayor of Forcarei, Don Alonso de Sótano Cortés, born in the pazo of Hermosende, the only example of stately architecture in the town hall, dating from 1711.

During the invasion of the Napoleonic army, Frei Felipe Serrano had the so-called “Tumbo Grande” kept in this pazo, a true documentary relic as it was the only material that was saved from the cenobial library from the fires and the French plundering. In the cemetery there is a beautiful image of the Heart of Mary, between two Solomonic columns, cut by one of the greatest stonemasons of the region, Manuel Doval Cadavid.

The “Neveras de Fixó” (individually collected file) are one of the most relevant elements or heritage resources of this parish. Located at an altitude of 800 metres, they are linked to the monastery of Aciveiro. They are two large pools that are four metres deep and six metres wide. The house of the Neveiro, responsible for the sale of ice, its accounting and the maintenance of the buildings, has been preserved. The ice was used to preserve meat, cool drinks and for medicinal purposes.

During the winter season, the snow was collected and pressed and protected with straw and wood. The trade in snow was the monastery’s main source of income.
We can also refer to a megalithic monument such as the Mámoa de Rofete. A mamoa without orthostats consisting of a masonry breastwork over an earthen covering. The mámoa was cut in half by the construction of a firebreak.

In the same parish there are also two chapels of some interest, that of Sano Antonio de Garellas, one of the oldest in the municipality, dating from 1678 and located a few metres from the Castro de Garellas, and that of Los Milagros de Vilariño.