Torres Vedras

Torres Vedras, a town of Portugal, in the district of Lisbon, 43 m. N. by W. of Lisbon, on the Lisbon-Figueira da Foz railway. Pop. (1900), 6900. Torres Vedras is built on the left bank of the river Sizandro; it has a Moorish citadel and hot sulphur baths. Roman inscriptions and other remains have been found here, but the Latin name of the town, Turres Veteres, is probably medieval. Here were the noted fortifications known as the "lines of Torres Vedras," constructed by Wellington in 1810 (see PENINSULAR WAR). Here also in 1846 the troops of 'General Saldanha defeated those of the count de Bomfin and seized the castle and town (see PORTUGAL: History).