From a Lusitanian hillfort, in which the Penha Garcia mountain range is abundant, the current village must have resulted. The rock, overlooking it, must have been fortified since the remotest antiquity. Its lofty castle must have been built by D. Sancho I, who had the clear political intuition to fortify Beira for the defense of the center of the country, against the secular enemies, the Leonese who were beyond the Erges and the Moor, who were beyond the Tagus.
Penha Garcia received its charter from D. Afonso III, on October 31, 1256.