São Pedro (fort)
Original title: Forte de S. Pedro
The São Pedro or Forte Novo on the Calhau wall in Funchal, finished in 1707 under Duarte Sodré Pereira and notable for its furnace for heated shot; demolished in 1897.
It is also called the New Fort (Forte Novo). It stood on the curtain wall (cortina, the defensive wall of the city) of the church of Our Lady of Calhau (Nossa Senhora do Calhau), by Corpo Santo (‘St Elmo’). It had a Renaissance-style gorge doorway, topped by an inscription and surmounted by an ornate, finely worked crown in white marble, which showed that the fortification works ordered on the island by the captain-general (capitão-general, military governor of Madeira) Duarte Sodré Pereira were completed in 1707. The fort had a furnace for heated shot: the balls were taken out with iron tongs and inserted through the muzzle of the already loaded gun, with a wad of dampened tow. The heat set off the gun, and the red-hot ball reached the decks of wooden ships, where it holed them and set them on fire. The fort was demolished in 1897.
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Places mentioned · 03- Fort of São Pedro · Subject
Funchal
The Forte de S. Pedro, also called Forte Novo, stood on the Calhau wall in Funchal. It was finished in 1707 under Duarte Sodré Pereira and was notable for its furnace for heating shot. It was demolished in 1897.
- Church of Our Lady of Calhau
Funchal. The fort stood on the wall section named after it.
One of Funchal's earliest churches, begun around 1438 on the shore by the Ribeira de João Gomes. It was repeatedly damaged by floods and finally destroyed by the great flood of 1803; its ruins were demolished in 1835 to make way for a fruit and vegetable market. The Elucidário also records it as the parish in which Vasconcelos was beneficed and as the place where Teive lived when the 1641 crowd fetched him; the Forte de São Pedro stood on the section of wall named after the church.
- Corpo Santo
Funchal. Area where the fort stood.
Corpo Santo is an area of Funchal where the Forte de São Pedro stood. It takes its name from the Capela do Corpo Santo, one of the oldest chapels in the diocese. This fifteenth-century building, much altered over time, was built by seafarers and dedicated to São Pedro Gonçalves Telmo; it housed a fishermen's confraternity that acted as a mutual-aid society.
People
People mentioned · 01-
Captain-general of Madeira whose fortification works were completed in 1707.