Fortress of São Tiago
Original title: Fortaleza de S. Tiago
The Fortress of São Tiago, built on a rocky point east of Funchal harbour during the Philippine period (dated 1614), was later enlarged and rebuilt in 1767. It housed British gunners during the English occupation and, in 1921, a mountain artillery battery.
Abroad
It was built under Philippine rule (Spanish Habsburg rule over Portugal, 1580–1640) on a rocky point east of the landing place, and the original portico bears the date 1614. Enlarged after the Restoration, it was given a new wall and outer gate, forming the end of the city walls. In 1697 Manuel Telo Catanho de Meneses was honorary captain (capitão ad honorem) of this fortress, with the obligation of keeping it clean and supplied with lookouts. In 1767 it underwent further alterations, as an inscription there shows: ‘This fortress was rebuilt and enlarged when José Correia de Sá was governor and captain-general of this island, and he had fifty pieces of artillery, with all their equipment, brought from London for the same fortress in the year 1767’.
When British troops occupied Madeira at the beginning of the 19th century, this fortress was garrisoned by British gunners. In 1803 the holder of the entail (morgado) João de Freitas da Silva was imprisoned here after fleeing the convent of São Bernardino, ‘to which he had been sent until he was instructed in the rudiments of Christian doctrine’ – a curious document published by the Heraldo da Madeira (‘Madeira Herald’), no. 441.
It currently serves as the barracks of No. 3 Mountain Artillery Battery (Bataria n.º 3 de Artilharia de Montanha). (1921).
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 05-
The Fortress of São Tiago in Funchal was built under Philippine rule, its original portal bearing the date 1614.
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Manuel Telo Catanho de Meneses was honorary captain of the Fortaleza de São Tiago.
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The Fortress of São Tiago in Funchal was rebuilt and enlarged under governor José Correia de Sá and armed with fifty cannon brought from London.
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The morgado João de Freitas da Silva was imprisoned in the fortress of São Tiago.
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The Fortress of São Tiago served as barracks for Mountain Artillery Battery no. 3.
Place
Places mentioned · 05- Fortress of São Tiago · Subject
Funchal
The Fortress of São Tiago stands on a rocky point east of Funchal harbour. It was built during the Philippine period (dated 1614) and later enlarged and rebuilt in 1767. It housed British gunners during the English occupation and, in 1921, a mountain artillery battery.
- Convent of St Bernardino
Câmara de Lobos. Convent from which the imprisoned morgado had fled.
Franciscan convent dedicated to São Bernardino de Sena in Câmara de Lobos, the first convent founded in Madeira outside Funchal and famed as the burial place of Fr. Pedro da Guarda, whose statue was burnt there in 1835. It was rebuilt in 1763, housed a minor seminary in 1831–33, fell into ruin after the extinction of the religious orders and was later restored.
- Fortress of São Tiago
Funchal. Subject of the entry, on a rocky point east of the port.
A fortress on the Funchal waterfront at the eastern end of the landing shore, dated 1614 during Spanish rule and rebuilt in 1767; it later housed a mountain artillery battery. Prisoners were held there in 1823 and 1828, the Republican flag was raised there on 7 October, and it fired during the 1916 bombardment of Funchal.
- Harbour of Funchal
Funchal. The fortress stands east of the harbour.
Funchal Bay, the largest harbour of the Madeira archipelago and the leading port of the Adjacent Islands. The islet lies at its western end, and it lies 4 miles from the port of Câmara de Lobos. The Elucidário gives its shipping statistics from 1901 to 1943 and records episodes such as corsair and warship visits.
- London
United Kingdom. Source of the fifty cannon brought in 1767.
The British capital, the place of publication of many English works on Madeira, including those of the du Canes, Embleton and Bloxam. Mason compared its humidity with Funchal's, and artillery for the Fortress of São Tiago came from there. It hosted the 1909 applied chemistry congress.
People
People mentioned · 03- João de Freitas da Silva1842–1922
Morgado imprisoned in the fortress in 1803 after fleeing the convent of São Bernardino, where he had been sent for religious instruction.
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Governor and captain-general of Madeira who had the fortress rebuilt and enlarged in 1767 and brought fifty cannon from London.
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Honorary captain of the São Tiago fortress in 1697, charged with keeping it clean and supplied with lookouts.