Arco da Calheta (parish)

Calheta (‘small cove’) was an important settlement from the earliest days of colonisation, and it lent its name to other localities that grew up in its immediate vicinity. Such were Estreito and Arco da Calheta (‘arc of Calheta’). The name Arco (‘arc’) comes from the distinctive semicircular shape of its hills. These orographic features, as also happens elsewhere on the island, fully explain the name the first settlers gave it. This parish (freguesia) was created in 1572. Its seat was established in the chapel of São Brás (St Blaise), although it should be noted that religious services had already been held there before that year by its own original chaplain, as in other places, for Arco was then a settlement of some importance with a sizeable number of inhabitants. Brás Ferreira, one of the oldest settlers of this parish, is named as the founder of the chapel of São Brás, as he himself states in his will made in 1493; but João Fernandes de Andrade is also regarded as the man who had it built, for his wills made in 1520 and 1523 refer clearly to this. João Pedro de Freitas Drumond and the annotator of the ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) note this glaring discrepancy, the latter saying that Brás Ferreira had left a bequest for the building of the chapel, but that it was actually built only by João Fernandes de Andrade. He died on 9 April 1527 and was buried in the said chapel, and it is recorded somewhere that the following epitaph could be read on his tomb: ‘Here lie João Fernandes and Beatriz de Abreu his wife, who were the first founders of this Arco.’

It was the royal decree (alvará régio) of 18 June 1572 that authorised the creation of a curacy (curato) held by a beneficed cleric (beneficiado) with the powers of a vicar, with an annual salary set at 13,000 réis (the Portuguese money of account before 1911; 1,000 réis = 1 mil-réis, 1,000,000 réis = 1 conto). The royal decree of 10 July of the same year added 110,000 réis on the appointment of the first parish priest, Friar Pedro Delgado, and the royal decree of 20 April 1589 made a further addition of half a moio (dry measure of grain, 60 alqueires) of wheat and a quarter of wine. It seems that other royal instruments later increased the stipend (côngrua) of the parish priest still further. The diocesan prelate, Dom Friar António Teles da Silva, under the authority granted by the royal decree of 28 December 1676, created a curacy in this parish with an annual salary of 12,000 réis in cash, one moio of wheat and one pipa (wine cask and measure, c. 400–500 litres) of wine, paid for by the ‘third superfluous beneficed cleric of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’)’. An old book in the parish archive states that this curacy was one of the best in the whole bishopric.

Before this parish was created, its inhabitants belonged to the parish of Calheta, where they fulfilled their religious obligations; some of these came to be observed in the chapel of São Brás once it had its own chaplain. At a date we cannot determine, a nave was added to the chapel of São Brás, which became the chancel of the new church. As the population grew, the church became too cramped, and the diocesan prelate ordered that the king be petitioned to build a new one. By order of the Treasury Council (Conselho de Fazenda) of 30 October 1744, the building of a new church was awarded by public auction (arrematação) to Cristóvão Gomes for the sum of 9,350,000 réis. We do not know when construction began, but it was declared complete in December 1754. The solemn blessing of the new church took place on 1 January 1755. Other additional works were carried out over time, and its tower was built in 1830.

Arco da Calheta was one of the first places on this island to be farmed on a large scale after the discovery. Its first settlers included João Fernandes de Andrade (see Andrade), who added the name ‘do Arco’ to his own because of the vast lands he held here as a sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation); his brother Diogo Fernandes de Andrade; Pedro Gonçalves da Câmara, grandson of João Gonçalves Zarco; Gonçalo Fernandes; and others besides. Large “settled farmsteads” (fazendas povoadas) grew up there, with their manor houses, chapels, sugar mills (engenho) and cultivated land.

Gaspar Frutuoso says: ‘A quarter of a légua from Madalena (‘Magdalene’) lies the lombada (long ridge between valleys) that belonged to Pedro Gonçalves da Câmara, husband of Dona Joana de Eça, chief lady of the bedchamber to the queen: it is a very rich estate, with a sugar mill and much land under cane, large ranges of houses, and a church with its chaplain. A quarter of a légua from this lombada... lies another, called the Arco or Lombada do Arco, which belonged to João Fernandes, brother of Gonçalo Fernandes, likewise a very rich estate, with a sugar mill and much land under cane, large ranges of houses, a church and a chaplain.’

João Fernandes do Arco left many descendants. Particularly worthy of mention is António de Abreu, the discoverer of the Moluccas, of whom we have already spoken above and who was probably born in this parish (freguesia). Also a daughter of João Fernandes was the celebrated heroine of the abduction carried out by António Gonçalves da Câmara, to whom we have already referred under the name of Isabel de Abreu.

Gonçalo Fernandes, a mysterious figure mentioned in the old Madeiran chronicles, of whom we shall speak in a separate article, had a residence and a sesmaria in this parish. The parish has the chapels of Our Lady of Loreto, Our Lady of Nazaré, the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Sagrado Coração de Jesus), Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Nossa Senhora da Conceição) and Nossa Senhora da Vida. Of the old chapels of Our Lady of the Flight into Egypt (Nossa Senhora do Desterro) and Nossa Senhora da Boa Hora only a few heaps of rubble remain today. Other chapels once existed that have vanished completely: those of Our Lady of Ransom (Nossa Senhora das Mercês), Our Lady of Consolation (Nossa Senhora da Consolação), Nossa Senhora da Visitação, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Santo António and Santa Maria Madalena.

Almost all these chapels were entailed foundations (instituição vincular, a morgado or capela), and some of them were the head and seat of various entailed estates (morgadio), of which there were not a few in this parish. Among them we shall mention that of Píncaro (‘pinnacle’), founded by Braz Ferreira, the original founder of the chapel of São Braz, which, says an old manuscript, ‘began at the estate surrounding the parish church and continued along this line straight from the sea to the uplands, as far as the Pinheiro. . .’; the entailed estate founded by Iria Pires, later enlarged by its administrator Pedro Barreto, ‘which lies along the line of the Ribeira do Ledo, which bounds it to the north, and so continues as far as the Cova do Arco’; the entail of Consolação (‘consolation’), which today belongs to the house of Torre Bela and seems to have been joined to that of Píncaro; the important entailed estate founded by Gonçalo Fernandes, headed in the chapel of Conceição (‘Conception’) at Serra de Água (‘water sawmill’); that of Loreto, created by Dona Joana de Eça; the entail (morgado) whose seat was the chapel of Nazaré (‘Nazareth’), founded by Antónia de Cristo and her sister Leonarda do Horto; that of Florenças, founded by João Homem de El-Rei; and others besides.

The popular uprising that broke out in 1834 in the parish (freguesia) of Calheta, with such grievous consequences (see Calheta), also spread to the parish of Arco: the people rioted and joined those of that parish, though we cannot say whether any parishioner of Arco da Calheta was among the victims. In 1887 the sad and notorious events surrounding the parish councils (juntas de paróquia) (see that entry), which in many parts of the island drove the people to the most extreme violence, also found a loud echo in the parish of Arco. The people rose up, threatening to break out into deplorable excesses, and seized the opportunity to demand the right to pay the landlords a third of the harvest instead of the half-share (dimídia, half of the harvest owed to the landlord) that they then paid, and which, despite everything, they continued to pay. The intervention of armed forces was needed, and they seem to have committed reprehensible excesses there. This parish has three state schools: one for boys, in the locality (sítio) of Ledo; one for girls, in the locality of Ladeira (‘slope’) e Lamaceiros (‘mud flats’); and one mixed school, in the locality of Lombada (‘long ridge’).

Arco da Calheta is irrigated mainly by a branch channel of the important Levada do Rabaçal and by the levada known as the Levada da Madre Grande, which rises in the Paul da Serra.

It borders the parishes of Madalena do Mar, Canhas and Calheta. It lies about 4 kilometres from Calheta, the seat of the municipality (concelho), approximately 7 kilometres from Ponta do Sol, the seat of the judicial district (comarca), and 34 from Funchal.

Its principal localities are Fajã, Ledo e Vinhatico, Fonte da Bugia e Luzirão, Ladeira e Lamaceiros, Fonte do Til, Fajã do Mar, Pombal e Fazenda Grande, Chada, Palheiros, Amoreiras, Paredes, Cova do Arco, Corujeira, Pomar Velho, Bagaceiro, Maçapez, Cales e Chada, Lombada do Loreto, Florenças and Pinheiro. The last three are extremely picturesque and command beautiful panoramas. Special mention must also be made of the village (lugar, settlement rank below a town) of Rochão, which offers the visitor an enchanting landscape and one of the widest and most striking views in the whole municipality.

Its patron saint is St Blaise, whose feast the Church celebrates on 3 February. There is an annual pilgrimage to the chapel of Loreto, with a large and well-attended arraial (open-air popular festival at a church feast), held on 7 and 8 September. The population of this parish is 4,639 inhabitants.