City limits 1Boundaries of 1809, 1863 and 1909
City limits
Original title: Limites da Cidade
Describes the successive official boundaries of the city of Funchal, from the limits fixed in 1809 through the alvará of 1863 and the municipal ordinance of 1909 to the much enlarged perimeter adopted in 1927.
1Boundaries of 1809, 1863 and 1909
The municipal by-law of 30 December 1909, confirmed by the District Commission (Comissão Distrital) on 3 August 1911, established that the urban part of the municipality (concelho) of Funchal was the perimeter formed by the angles whose vertices rest on the following points:
- 1. the Reid’s Hotel on the Estrada Monumental (‘monumental road’)
- 2. the old bridge over the Ribeiro Seco (‘dry brook’)
- 3. the intersection of Rua do Arcebispo Dom Aires with the Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy levada road’)
- 4. the intersection of that road with the Avenida de Pedro José de Ornelas
- 5. the intersection of the Caminho do Palheiro do Ferreiro with the Caminho do Terço (‘rosary road’)
- 6. the mouth of the Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires (‘Gonçalo Aires’s stream’).
The 3rd and 4th vertices are to be taken as joined by the polygonal line that follows every bend of the Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia.
According to the royal decree (alvará) of 5 October 1863, the limits of the city were as follows:
- to the south, the beaches of the bay of Funchal
- to the east, in the parish (freguesia) of Santa Maria Maior (‘St Mary Major’), the localities of Louros, Forca and Rochinha de Cima
- to the north, in the parish of Santa Luzia, the localities of Vale Formoso, Calçada da Torrinha and Ponte do Deão
- and to the west, in the parish of São Pedro (‘St Peter’), the localities of Pico, São João da Ribeira, Maravilhas, Ribeiro Seco and Ponte Monumental.
Before that decree, the city was bounded by the chapel of St Catherine, the Ponte de São Paulo, the Castelo do Pico (‘castle of the peak’), the Beco dos Arrifes as far as the upper mill, the church of Santa Luzia, Pena, Rochinha and the Encruzilhada da Forca. These limits had been fixed by a commission appointed at the council meeting of 19 December 1809.
2Expansion and the 1927 limits
The city began to spread towards Ribeiro Seco and the Caminho do Monte (‘Monte road’) after the flash flood (aluvião) of 1803, because many of the city’s buildings had been ruined and many families were left without homes. At its ordinary session of 17 October 1927, the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) resolved to give the city an excessively vast area, extending it deep into the suburban parishes. It fixed the limits in the following terms, which, it must be said, are not remarkable for their clarity: ‘From the sea in a straight line to the road linking National Road no. 23 with the Caminho Velho de São Gonçalo, the Caminho da Igreja de São Gonçalo, the Caminho do Palheiro Ferreiro, the Caminho do Terço, the Caminho da Levada do Bom Sucesso, in a straight line to the Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia, from there in a straight line to the Muro da Coelha (north of the Quinta Drolhe), the Caminho da Água de Mel, Álamos, the Ponte da Ribeira Grande, Quinta do Leme, Pilar, Avista-Navios, the Caminho de São Martinho and the Caminho do Amparo to the Estrada Monumental, and in a straight line down to the sea’.
With these new limits fixed for its area, the city almost doubled in size, taking on truly exaggerated proportions. Under the Council’s resolution of 1909, the parishes of the Sé and Santa Luzia, almost the whole of São Pedro and a considerable part of Santa Maria formed an integral part of the city, and for that reason they were called urban parishes. Under the new division of the city in 1927, the capital of the district comprised the area established in 1909, together with the territory added from the suburban parishes of São Martinho, Santo António, São Roque and São Gonçalo; the parish of Monte is the only one that has no share in the perimeter recently fixed for the city’s limits. Its former area, reckoned at about five hundred hectares, must now reach approximately 750. The truth is that this excessive enlargement of the city has not caught the attention of the population, who continue to regard as the bounds of urban Funchal the limits so logically and rightly fixed for it in 1909. The official population census for 1920 gives the city 24,284 inhabitants, a number that has grown greatly today, not only through the natural increase of the population but also through the enlargement the city underwent in 1927, as already mentioned.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 07-
The great flood of 9 October 1803, considered Madeira's greatest calamity, devastated Funchal and other parts of the island, killing about 600 people and destroying the Calhau church, stream walls, bridges and chapels in Machico, Santa Cruz and elsewhere. It prompted Oudinot's mission and the city's spread outwards.
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A Funchal council session appointed a commission that fixed the city limits.
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An alvará fixed new city limits of Funchal, and the civil governor approved the street map fixing the limits of Santa Luzia parish.
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A municipal ordinance defined the limits of the urban area of Funchal.
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The District Commission confirmed the 1909 ordinance setting Funchal's city limits.
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The 1920 census recorded 6,190 inhabitants in Ponta do Sol parish and 24,284 in the city of Funchal.
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Council greatly enlarged the city into suburban parishes.
Place
Places mentioned · 20
- Avenida Pedro José de Ornelas
Funchal. Fourth vertex of the 1909 perimeter.
Avenida Pedro José de Ornelas is an avenue in Funchal, the modern name of the road once called Caminho da Pena, extended by the motor road to Monte. It marked the fourth vertex of the city's 1909 boundary perimeter.
- Caminho do Terço
Funchal. Boundary road in 1909 and 1927.
Caminho do Terço is a road in Funchal. The Elucidário records it as one of the roads marking the city limits fixed in 1909 and 1927.
- Chapel of St Catherine
Funchal. Western limit before 1863.
The Capela de Santa Catarina in Funchal was founded about 1425 by Constança Rodrigues de Almeida, wife of João Gonçalves Zarco, beside his first wooden house. It is regarded as the first church on Madeira, with the date 1425 on its portal, and had an adjoining almshouse for poor women. The Convento de São Francisco was built opposite it.
- Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia
Funchal. Road forming the northern line of the 1909 boundary.
The Estrada da Levada de Santa Luzia is a level road in Santa Luzia, Funchal, running from near the Santa Luzia stream to the Avenida Pedro José de Ornelas beside the Santa Luzia levada, one of the oldest on the island. It formed part of the northern city limits in 1909 and 1927. It offers fine views and passes several quintas, including giving access to the Quinta da Palmeira.
- Estrada Monumental
Funchal. Road on which the first 1909 vertex lies.
The Estrada Monumental is a road crossing much of São Martinho parish, and the Palace Hotel stands on it. It was used in defining the 1909 and 1927 city boundaries of Funchal, with the first 1909 vertex lying on it.
- Fortress of the Pico
Funchal. Boundary mark fixed in 1809.
A fortress above Funchal in São Pedro parish, begun under Philippine (Spanish) rule and completed after the Restoration, containing the profaned chapel of São João. It was fixed as a city boundary mark in 1809 and long served as a place of confinement, holding the deposed governor in 1668, 16 prisoners of the Alçada of 1828 and the 1844 prisoners from the cutter Andorinha. It was ceded in 1888 and proposed again in 1909 for use as a prison, but its cost as a prison prompted a move to São Lázaro.
- Funchal
The city whose boundaries are defined.
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.
- Monte
Funchal. Only Funchal parish left outside the 1927 perimeter.
Parish of Nossa Senhora do Monte above Funchal, at about 600 m, where leafing occurs later than in Funchal. It contains the localities of Jardim Botânico, Igreja and Marmeleiros and the Quinta de Sant'Ana. The Elucidário notes its many plants, such as acacias and Sonchus fruticosus.
- Quinta do Leme
Funchal. Point on the 1927 boundary.
Inhabited locality and estate in the parish of Santo António, Funchal. It was the family seat and entailed estate of the Leme family, with António de Leme's house and the chapel of São Filipe. It is also recorded as the limit of public lighting in Santo António.
- Reid's Hotel
Funchal. First vertex of the 1909 urban perimeter.
First vertex of the 1909 urban perimeter.
- Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires
Funchal. Its mouth was the sixth vertex of 1909.
The Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires is a stream in São Gonçalo parish, named, according to Gaspar Frutuoso, after the explorer Gonçalo Aires, who came down it during the first exploration of Madeira. The lazaretto stands at its mouth, which was a vertex of Funchal's 1909 city limits.
- Ribeiro Seco
Funchal. Its old bridge was a 1909 vertex; the city spread this way after 1803.
The Ribeiro Seco is a stream west of Funchal that forms the western limit of the parish of São Pedro. It is crossed by the Ponte Monumental, and the Praça do Ribeiro Seco, built shortly after 1850 and now the Largo de António Nobre, stands on its left bank. Its mouth marks one end of the Águas Doces shore, its cove was defended by the Forte da Penha de França, and the Quinta do Calaça lies west of it.