Municipal Slaughterhouse
Original title: Matadouro Municipal
History of Funchal's slaughterhouses and meat markets from the fifteenth century to the modern municipal slaughterhouse of 1941.
The old municipal slaughterhouse was built in 1851, next to the Fish Market (Praça de São Pedro). It served its purpose well and had abundant water for cleaning.
A council resolution of 1495 ordered the butchers to slaughter and skin livestock at the Cabo do Calhau (‘end of the pebble shore’). On 20 May 1791, however, the Council decided to draw up an estimate for building a slaughterhouse next to the house of the market inspectorate (almotaceria), and in 1795 it asked the Royal Treasury for a loan of 400,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) to carry out the building. On 9 September 1825, by order of the municipality, the slaughterhouse was moved to the vicinity of the Ribeira de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’), and the market inspectors (almotacés) were authorised to punish ‘the slaughtermen and skinners’ who killed livestock outside the new place assigned to them.
As early as 1446 there was a public butcher’s shop (açougue) and a house for the sale of meat in Funchal, and the book of council sessions for 1488 shows that the butchers’ house then stood towards Santa Catarina (‘St Catherine’).
The slaughterhouse of 1851 was demolished and replaced by the present Municipal Slaughterhouse (Matadouro Municipal), which dates from 1941. It stands on the right bank of the Ribeira de João Gomes (‘João Gomes’s stream’), in the continuation of the former Beco do Cascalho (‘gravel alley’). It is a modern and spacious building, constructed not only with the room needed to carry out all the services proper to it, but also in accordance with the strictest rules of hygiene.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 08-
Funchal already had a meat market.
-
Council records place Funchal's meat market near Santa Catarina.
-
The council ordered butchers to slaughter cattle at Cabo do Calhau.
-
The Funchal council resolved to budget for a slaughterhouse by the Almotaceria.
-
The Funchal council asked the Royal Treasury for a loan of 400$000 réis for the slaughterhouse.
-
The Funchal slaughterhouse was moved near the Santa Luzia stream.
-
The municipal butchers' stalls and slaughterhouse were built beside the fish market in Funchal.
-
The new Municipal Slaughterhouse of Funchal was built.
Place
Places mentioned · 08- Municipal Slaughterhouse · Subject
Funchal
The Matadouro Municipal is Funchal's municipal slaughterhouse, opened in 1941. The entry traces the history of the city's slaughterhouses and meat markets from the fifteenth century onwards.
- Beco do Cascalho
Funchal. The modern slaughterhouse lies on its extension.
The modern slaughterhouse lies on its extension.
- Cabo do Calhau
Funchal. Where butchers were ordered to slaughter cattle in 1495.
Cabo do Calhau was a former locality beside the Chapel of Corpo Santo in Funchal, which marked the city's eastern limit at the end of the sixteenth century. Butchers were ordered to slaughter cattle there in 1495, and the curtain wall ran along it to the Fortaleza de São Tiago.
- Funchal
Town whose meat trade is described.
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.
- Praça de São Pedro
Funchal. Site next to which the 1851 slaughterhouse was built.
Praça de São Pedro in Funchal was the site of the former fish market (Praça do Peixe), later replaced by the Mercado União. The Elucidário records the 1851 slaughterhouse built next to it, a Fiscal Guard post there, and that it was the probable site of the Rua do Peixe gate.
- Ribeira de João Gomes
Funchal. The 1941 slaughterhouse stands on its right bank.
The Ribeira de João Gomes is a stream in Funchal that rises in the Serra do Poiso, receives the Ribeira das Cales and was once called Ribeira de Nossa Senhora do Calhau. It marked the eastern limit of the planned city walls and of the parish of Santa Luzia, and the Calhau church stood beside it. The 1941 municipal slaughterhouse stands on its right bank.
- Ribeira de Santa Luzia
Funchal. Slaughterhouse moved near it in 1825.
The Ribeira de Santa Luzia is one of the three streams crossing Funchal, named after a chapel of Santa Luzia on its left bank. Its banks were probably the first land irrigated by levadas and had four sugar mills in the late 17th century. It feeds the Santa Luzia, Moinhos and D. Isabel levadas, and the Jesuits' Fundoa residence stood on its right bank.
- Santa Catarina
Funchal. Area of the meat market in 1488.
Santa Catarina is a height in São Pedro parish, west of Funchal, where Zarco made his first settlement and wooden dwelling. Its fields were named with Caniçal as the best royal hunting grounds, and the Hospital de São Lázaro stood there.