Barreiro (Montado do)
The Montado do Barreiro is an upland wooded and pasture area above Funchal, rich in springs that feed several levadas and the Tornos springs used for the city's water supply. The entry also covers the expropriation of the montado by the Funchal council and the resulting lawsuit.
The Montado do Barreiro and its waters
It extends from the Ribeiro do Pisão (‘fulling-mill brook’) to the Terreiro das Águas (‘ground of the waters’), and it contains land for pines and wild trees and land for pasture. There are some woods of laurel and tree heath. The Montado do Barreiro (‘clay-pit wooded pasture’) is extremely rich in water: the Levada do Barreiro rises here, as do some of the springs that help feed the levadas (irrigation channels) of Santa Luzia das Hortas, of Empress Elisabeth, etc. The Tornos (‘water turns’) springs, overlooking the Ribeira de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’s stream’), lie within this upland woodland (montado). According to the experts who measured them a few years ago, the total flow of the waters of the Montado do Barreiro is 4,140 litres per minute: 512 litres belong to the Levada do Barreiro, 2,728 litres to the Ribeira de Santa Luzia and the levadas that rise in it, and 900 litres to the Tornos springs, these last waters being assigned by the Council to the city’s water supply. The works channelling the Tornos waters to a reservoir at the locality (sítio) of Saltos (‘falls’) were completed on 22 October 1910, while the remaining works, which consist of bringing the same waters to the city, have only just begun. The owners of the Montado do Barreiro claimed that the Council should pay them compensation of 387,517.00 escudos (the Portuguese currency from 1911: 1 escudo = 100 centavos = 1,000 réis) for the expropriation of the land of the montado and its waters, excepting those of the Levada do Barreiro. By court judgment, however, this sum was reduced to 42,163.07 escudos, which, as far as we know, has not yet been paid in full. Of particular interest on this subject are the pamphlets A Expropriação do Montado do Barreiro . . . by Pedro de Góis Pita and Acção de expropriação do Montado do Barreiro requerida pela Câmara do Funchal by Juvenal Henriques de Araújo.
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Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 10- Montado do Barreiro · Subject
Funchal
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.
- Funchal
City to be supplied with the Tornos waters.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Levada de Dona Isabel
Funchal. Fed partly by springs of the montado.
The Levada de D. Isabel, also called the Fundoa levada, is a private levada in Funchal and a founding member of the Liga das Levadas. It is fed partly by springs of the Montado do Barreiro and irrigates São Roque, São Pedro and Santa Luzia.
- Levada de Santa Luzia
Funchal. Fed partly by springs of the montado.
The Levada de Santa Luzia is the oldest and most important private levada on Madeira, rising in the basin of the Santa Luzia stream and protected by a royal charter of 1515. In the 16th century it irrigated canefields; it crosses much of Santa Luzia parish, marking its northern limit, and is flanked by a road with views and quintas. Its commission disputed the Tornos springs with the Câmara, and a reservoir was built there in 1934.
- Levada do Barreiro
Funchal. Rises in the montado, with a flow of 512 litres per minute.
Rises in the montado, with a flow of 512 litres per minute.
- Ribeira de Santa Luzia
Funchal. Receives 2,728 litres per minute from the montado.
The Ribeira de Santa Luzia is one of the three streams crossing Funchal, named after a chapel of Santa Luzia on its left bank. Its banks were probably the first land irrigated by levadas and had four sugar mills in the late 17th century. It feeds the Santa Luzia, Moinhos and D. Isabel levadas, and the Jesuits' Fundoa residence stood on its right bank.
- Ribeiro do Pisão
Funchal. One boundary of the Montado do Barreiro.
One boundary of the Montado do Barreiro.
- Saltos
Funchal. Site of the reservoir receiving the Tornos waters.
Site of the reservoir receiving the Tornos waters.
- Tornos
Funchal. Springs of 900 litres per minute in the montado, assigned to Funchal's water supply.
Tornos is a group of abundant springs in the municipality of Funchal, in the Montado do Barreiro, yielding about 900 litres per minute. They swell the Santa Luzia stream and were captured for the city's drinking water, including the Largo do Poço fountain. Their waters were analysed in 1900.
People
People mentioned · 02- Juvenal Henriques de Araújob. 1892
Author of a pamphlet on the expropriation lawsuit brought by the Funchal council over the Montado do Barreiro.
- Pedro Góis Pitab. 1891
Author of a pamphlet on the expropriation of the Montado do Barreiro.