Known in the Middle Ages as “Berças Bridge”, it connected the burghs of San Martín and San Miguel. The latter was granted the right, by “Fuero” decree, to hold a weekly market every Thursday. The countryfolk and livestock farmers from across the region would gather here to sell their wares. As the Franks in San Martín held a monopoly of the daily market to provide for the pilgrims, crossing the bridge meant venturing beyond the confines of an area that enjoyed those privileges granted by “Fuero” decree.

The wall built with great stones and arrow slits that remains to this day at the entrance to the bridge, may well be one of the most ancient in the city. It was part of the city walls that enclosed the first burgh of San Martín at the entrance to the Way to Santiago. Economic development in this burgh led to the construction of an important addition, the Borc Nuel (New Quarter), following the direction that St. James’ Way passed through the town, causing the gate and walls by the bridge to lose their initial significance.

The structure of Berças Bridge was underpinned by a single semi-circular arch in the Romanesque style, which was probably built in the 12^th century. It later became known as the Prison Bridge due to the fact that for a time the city prison was located next to the bridge.

In 1873, during the second Carlist war, the liberal general Ramón Nouvillas ordered that the bridge be destroyed so as to impede the Carlists’ entry to the city. The order for its demolition was overturned, but according to reports of the time, when the order arrived to leave the bridge intact, in reaction to the constant taunts they faced from the Carlist womenfolk, the liberal field engineers disobeyed orders and blew it up.

In the 1970s it was rebuilt using drawings made by the architect Pons Sorolla.