Emblematic of Portuguese medieval military architecture, the Castle of Santa Maria da Feira is one of the monuments that best reflects the diversity of defenses used during the Middle Ages, having been instrumental in the process of Reconquista and autonomy of the County of Portugal.

During the reign of Bermudo III (1028–1037) Arab continued to attempt to capture the Castle, but were defeated definitively in the Battle of Cesár.

[3] The Leonese kings distinguished the population with the Honra de Infanções, an honour at the time only received by the judges, magistrates and councilmen of Lisbon.

[3] The first reference to a built structure in this location occurred in the 11th century, in the Chronica Gothorum, identifying the construction of the inferior portion of the keep and fortress.

[1][3] Teresa had created tensions between the rulers of the Iberian peninsula through conflicts with her sister Urraca, and later rebuking Alfonso VII (her nephew), resulting in his invasion of the County of Portugal.

Teresa also alienated the clergy and nobles, pandering to her alliance with Galicia, through her lover Fernando Pérez, and favouring the ecclesiastical pretensions of the rival Galician Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, Diego Gelmírez.

[3] Pero Gonçalves de Marnel, from a family of landholders, governor of Santa Maria da Feira and alcade of the Castle at the time, was one of these nobles who felt threatened by the growing power of Galicia within the County: he had been substituted as the governor of Coimbra by Fernando Pérez himself, and saw a threat to his wealth, prestige and possessions, and therefore aligned himself and his Castle with the Afonso Henriques at the São Mamede.

[4] The fourth Count of Feira, Diogo Forjaz, orders the marker/inscription that was erected over the barbican to commemorate the construction of the clock tower (which existed until 1755).

[1] It was also around this time (1656) that Joana Forjaz Pereira de Meneses e Silva, Countess of Feira, ordered the construction of the hexagonal-shaped Baroque chapel.

[1] The 1908 visit of King Manuel II to the site, resulted in renewed interest, who struck a commission to protect and preserve the castle.

[4] Public access to the Castle began in 1950, through the direction of the Direcção Geral dos Serviços de Urbanização (General Directorate on Urban Services), although there had already existed paid tours provided since 1927.

On 13 January 1963 the castle was illuminated, through the initiative of engineer Arantes e Oliveira, in the Public Works office, and Galvão Teles, in the Ministry of Education.

On 1 June 1992, the property came under the authority of the Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico - IPPAR (Portuguese Institute of Patrimonial Architecture), under decree 106F/92.

An arcade gate provides access to the compound and rectangular prison block tower, reinforced with watchtowers on its apexes, with a protected entrance via a patio.