Fajã da Ovelha (parish)

In this parish there is a locality (sítio) that has kept the name Fajã da Ovelha (‘the ewe’s flat’) since the earliest days of colonisation; the name later spread to the surrounding land and eventually to the whole parish (freguesia). It is common for a simple episode, a chance circumstance or a minor event to have given rise to the name of a particular locality or village (lugar, settlement rank below a town), which later grows into a populous centre or an important settlement. The same would have happened with the name of this parish, as we have already pointed out in the article devoted to the parish of Estreito da Calheta (‘the narrows of Calheta’).

The learned annotator of the ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) states that this parish only began to be called Fajã da Ovelha when, at the beginning of the 18th century, permission was given to build a new church, which was put up a few years later at the locality that then bore, and still bears today, that name. We disagree with this opinion, authoritative though it is, for the reasons we shall briefly set out. It is true that for almost two centuries this parish had its seat in the chapel of São Lourenço (St Lawrence), at the locality of that name, and that around the middle of the 18th century it moved to the new church built at the locality of Fajã da Ovelha. Yet it was never known as the parish of São Lourenço, as it naturally would have been had it not had another name, which in fact it did. The oldest document relating to this parish, cited in the Índex Geral of the register of the former Royal Treasury Office (Provedoria da Real Fazenda) and in the Memorias sobre a creaçâo e augmento do estado eclesiástico na ilha da Madeira, dates from 1553, and it already refers to the church of the parish of Fajã da Ovelha, the name by which it was then known. If it was called neither São Lourenço nor Fajã da Ovelha, what name could it have had before the 18th century? None is known. From this we logically infer that this parish always bore the name Fajã da Ovelha, from the earliest days of colonisation or, more precisely still, from the time when the seat of a new parish was established there.

Like almost all the parishes of this island, Fajã da Ovelha had its beginnings in a fairly old chapel that stood there, around which a sizeable core of population gradually formed. This was the chapel of São Lourenço, which already had its own chaplain before the parish was created; its last chaplain and first parish priest was Father António Enes.

This parish was created as a curacy (curato) before 1553, for the royal decree (alvará régio) of 11 April of that year added to the original stipend (côngrua) of the curate or curate chaplain (capelão-curado), which was 9,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) a month, one moio (dry measure of grain, 60 alqueires) of wheat and a quarter of wine. The royal decree of 26 July 1559 made a further increase to the salary of the priest who performed the parochial duties there. It was only shortly before 1573 that Fajã da Ovelha truly became an autonomous parish and the curate chaplain came to enjoy the honours and privileges of a vicar. A decree of 6 July of that year set the parish priest’s annual stipend at 20,000 réis, and another of 3 June 1687 raised it to 25,000 réis in cash, one and a half moios of wheat and one pipa (wine cask and measure, c. 400–500 litres) of wine.

As the population grew, a curacy was created in this parish towards the end of the 18th century.

The chaplaincy with cure of souls (capelania-curada), not yet an autonomous parish, and the parish had their seat, as already stated, in the chapel of São Lourenço, and remained there until the second quarter of the 18th century. The royal decree of Queen Catherine, regent of the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal), dated 27 June 1705, authorised the building of a new church and its transfer to whatever site was judged most suitable for the purpose and in keeping with the wishes expressed by the people, after the most repeated entreaties of the parish priest of the time. Despite this, the new church was not built until some years later, the locality (sítio) of Fajã da Ovelha being chosen as the place that best met the conditions required for its construction. The order of the Council of the Treasury (Conselho da Fazenda) of 24 January 1747 (and not 1737, as the ‘Longing for the Homeland’ says) awarded the work by public auction (arrematação) to the carpenter Francisco Gomes for the sum of 6,350,000 réis. We do not know when the work was completed or when the new church was blessed.

While this parish was still a chaplaincy with cure of souls, the parish of Ponta do Pargo (‘sea bream point’) was separated from it, and later that of Prazeres (‘joys’), formed partly from land belonging to Fajã da Ovelha and partly from Estreito da Calheta.

Main localities

Lombada dos Marinheiros, Lombo dos Falcões, Eirinhas, Farrobo, Massapês, Fajã da Ovelha, São João, Casais da Serra, São Lourenço, Lombada dos Cedros, Raposeira do Serrado, Raposeira do Logarinho and Maloeira.

The Pico da Maloeira, the cliff of Raposeira do Logarinho and the Ribeira dos Cedros and Ribeira dos Marinheiros deserve special mention for the picturesque scenery they offer the visitor and the fine views to be enjoyed from them.

The parish (freguesia) is crossed by the Ribeira da Inês, which separates it from Prazeres, and by the Ribeira da Cova, Ribeira da Chã, Ribeira dos Cedros, Ribeira de São João, Ribeira dos Falcões and Ribeira dos Marinheiros. Some of these streams feed the Levada da Cova, Levada do Ribeiro Chão, Levada dos Moinhos and Levada da Fonte do Folhado, which irrigate the parish, as does the Levada do Rabaçal. There are well-founded hopes that within a few years a long and abundant levada (irrigation channel) will be built, intended to irrigate this and other parishes of the municipality (concelho) of Calheta (‘small cove’).

The book by the mining engineer Eugenio Ackermann, entitled L'Ile Madère considerée au point de vue scientifique, refers to the manganese ore found in this parish and gives a short analysis of the proportions of its constituent elements. It seems to have little industrial value.

The parish has 2,757 inhabitants, and St John is the patron saint of its parish church. The new cemetery was blessed and opened in March 1910.

The parish has one state school for each sex and is the seat of a medical district covering this parish and those of Ponta do Pargo, Paul do Mar and Prazeres.

Natives of this parish include Father António Gomes Neto (see that entry); Canon António Joaquim Jardim, who won great distinction as a preacher and, as a supporter of liberal ideas, spent some years in prison under the absolutist government; and Augusto César de Gouveia, who, through his selflessness, prestige, learning and enterprising spirit, rendered notable and widely acknowledged services to this parish.