Common lands
Original title: Baldios
Describes Madeira's baldios, the uncultivated upland commons lying mostly above 800–900 metres, their mostly undocumented private ownership, and proposals to afforest them to secure firewood supplies.
The common lands (baldios), or uncultivated and unused land of Madeira, lie for the most part more than 800 or 900 metres above sea level. Almost all of them are privately owned, although more often than not this ownership cannot be proved by legal title. It is said that the Paul da Serra (‘upland marsh’) and a small part of the uplands of São Jorge, Boaventura (‘good fortune’) and Poiso (‘resting place’) belong to the State, while all the other land in the island’s mountainous region belongs to private owners, except for the Montado do Barreiro (‘clay-pit wooded pasture’), recently acquired by the Municipal Council of Funchal, and the upland commons (montados) bought by the Agricultural Council of Madeira (Junta Agrícola da Madeira).
There are about 30,000 hectares of uncultivated land on the island. Some former common lands in the Serra do Monte are now covered with pines, and it would be well if the planting of these trees were extended to other parts of the mountainous region, to guard against the danger that threatens us of one day running short of firewood for the needs of the population. The Paul da Serra, which the people were given leave to use in the time of the government of John VI, could grow the Canary pine, a species which in the view of Dr Jorge Perez is very well suited to afforesting the upper zone of our island.
In former times the common lands were, for the most part, separated from the cultivated land by hedges or fences made of stakes and tree branches, known as bardos, chiefly intended to stop livestock from getting into the crops. See Barreiro.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 06
- Montado do Barreiro
Funchal. Upland tract recently acquired by the Funchal municipal council.
Upland wooded and pasture tract above Funchal, rich in springs that feed several levadas and the Tornos springs used for the city's water supply. It was expropriated by the Funchal council in 1917, and the resulting lawsuit prompted pamphlets by Pedro Góis Pita and Juvenal Henriques de Araújo.
- Paul da Serra
Ponta do Sol. State-owned upland plateau suggested for planting Canary pine.
The Paul da Serra is the only extensive plateau on Madeira, lying at about 1,500 m across four municipalities, where temperatures can fall to freezing. The Rabaçal and Risco springs, the Ribeira da Tabua and the Ribeira da Janela rise at its edges, and it feeds the main levadas. The Elucidário records its vegetation, agricultural trials, shelter houses, sheep-shearing gatherings, common-land use and an unfinished road project.
- Poiso
Santa Cruz. Part of its serra is said to be state property.
The Poiso is an upland site in Madeira's interior, listed at about 1,390–1,414 m, on road 24 and near Chão das Feiteiras, the Alagoas plateau and the Areeiro. It was an interior astronomical station, and weather observations were made there, including by Guilherme Teles de Meneses and of the winds in 1894. The Ribeira de João Gomes and the Ribeira do Porto Novo rise in its area.
- Serra de Boaventura
São Vicente. Part of its serra is said to be state property.
Serra de Boaventura is the upland of Boaventura parish, Madeira, part of which is said to be state property. It is one of the two heights between which the Boca das Torrinhas pass lies.
- Serra de São Jorge
Santana. Part of its serra is said to be state property.
The Serra de São Jorge is the upland of São Jorge parish, part of which is said to be state property. It is the site of a state-owned levada.
- Serra do Monte
Funchal. Former commons now covered with pines.
Former commons now covered with pines.
People
People mentioned · 02- John VId. 1826
King of Portugal under whose government the people were allowed to use the Paul da Serra.
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Expert who considered the Canary pine well suited to afforesting Madeira's upper zone.