Leite Monteiro (park)

Construction of the park began in 1894 on land bought from João Baptista de Sousa for 1,640,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis), following a decision taken at the council meeting of 2 August that year. Although it offers nothing out of the ordinary in the way of vegetation or ornament, it is nonetheless a place one visits with pleasure, both for its coolness and lush greenery and for the views it commands. The fountain known as the Fonte de Nossa Senhora (Our Lady’s Spring), where a small image of the Virgin can be seen, is made of marble and stands in the park. Beside it lies a spacious square, where grow the most beautiful plane trees we know of on the island.

The old fountain of Nossa Senhora, far more charming and picturesque than the present one, was destroyed in 1896 when a large chestnut tree that overhung it fell. The contract for installing the new fountain was awarded at the council meeting of 12 August 1897.

Inside the fountain there is a brass plate bearing an inscription in English, which reads as follows: ‘Charles Murray, Consul General of His Britannic Majesty in the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’), founder and first owner of the quinta (country estate) of Belo Monte, in the year 1776 purchased the surplus water of this fountain from the holder of the entail (morgado) Henrique Felix de Freitas, for the sum of 5,000 réis a year, to be paid in perpetuity to the heirs of the said holder of the entail; and he ordered this structure to be built so that the waters might be better gathered, the fountain repaired and the aqueduct and fountain at the roadside constructed, all at his own expense, in the year of Our Lord 1778’.

At its session of 22 August 1895, the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal do Funchal) gave the name of its president, Dr José Leite Monteiro, to the park at Monte (‘hill’). However, the municipal administrative commission (comissão administrativa municipal) appointed after the proclamation of the Republic annulled this decision at its session of 27 October 1910. On 13 February 1913, when Dr Manuel Gregório Pestana Júnior was president of the municipal administrative commission, the park’s original name was restored, a decision that was very well received by the people of Funchal.