Porto Moniz (municipality) 1Origins and petitions
Porto Moniz (municipality)
Original title: Porto do Moniz (Muncipio do)
History of the municipality of Porto Moniz in north-western Madeira, created in 1835 after long local petitions, and repeatedly abolished and restored in the nineteenth century. Porto Moniz was never raised to the status of a vila, only serving as the seat of the concelho.
1Origins and petitions
As we have already pointed out with regard to the Municipality of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’), Porto Moniz was never a town (vila), but only the seat of the municipality (concelho) established there in 1835. The people of the locality and of the neighbouring parishes (freguesias) sought at times to have the village (lugar, settlement rank below a town) of Porto Moniz raised to the rank of town, but these efforts came to nothing.
Porto Moniz, like all the localities in the north of the island, belonged to the town and Municipality of Machico. When the Municipality and town of São Vicente (‘St Vincent’) was created in 1743, it became an integral part of the new municipality. In 1817 the engineer and inspector of public works Paulo Dias de Almeida impressed upon the government in Lisbon the need to create the Municipality of Porto Moniz. In a dispatch to the higher authorities dated 10 April 1825, the governor and captain-general Dom Manuel de Portugal e Castro gave a favourable report on the petition the people had made to that end, which merely answered long-standing aspirations already voiced on other occasions. According to the request then made, the new municipality would comprise the parishes of Seixal, Ribeira da Janela, Porto Moniz and Ponta do Pargo. Its boundaries would be the stream of João Delgado, from the sea up to the heights of the Paul da Serra (‘upland marsh’), in the parish of Seixal, and the stream of Marinheiros up to the uplands of Fonte do Bispo (‘bishop’s spring’), in the parish of Ponta do Pargo.
2Creation, suppressions and restorations
Only with the establishment of constitutional government and the division of this district into municipalities was the municipality (concelho) of Porto Moniz created. Its seat was in the parish (freguesia) of the same name, and it then comprised that parish together with the parishes of Seixal, Ribeira da Janela, Achadas da Cruz and Ponta do Pargo.
The municipality was created in 1835 and installed on 31 October of the same year. Its first administrator (administrador do concelho, government-appointed head of the municipality) was Captain Tomás João Perestrelo da Câmara, and the first president of the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the Municipal Council was the naval captain Teodoro Moniz de Bettencourt.
The municipality of Porto Moniz has been abolished and restored several times. It was suppressed in 1849 and restored a few years later. The decree of 10 December 1867 abolished the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Santana and Porto Moniz, but they were re-established shortly afterwards. The decree of 18 November 1895 suppressed this municipality once again; it was restored by the decree of 13 January 1898 and reinstalled on 13 February of the same year.
The parish of Ponta do Pargo was detached from the municipality of Porto Moniz and annexed to that of Calheta (‘small cove’) by decree of 20 June 1871.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 09-
São Vicente was raised to a town and municipality, separated from Machico and taking in Porto Moniz.
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Paulo Dias de Almeida urged the creation of a municipality of Porto Moniz.
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Governor D. Manuel de Portugal e Castro reported favourably on the petition to create a municipality of Porto Moniz.
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The municipality of Porto Moniz, created in 1835, was formally installed.
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A decree abolished the municipality of Porto Moniz, whose parishes passed to Calheta; it was restored a few years later.
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A short-lived decree abolished the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Santa Cruz, Porto Moniz and Santana, merging Porto Moniz's parishes into São Vicente; they were soon restored.
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A law definitively transferred the parish of Ponta do Pargo from the municipality of Porto Moniz to Calheta.
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A decree suppressed the Porto Moniz municipality for a second time, annexing its parishes to Calheta and São Vicente; it was restored in 1898.
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A decree of 13 January 1898 restored the municipality of Porto Moniz, which was reinstalled on 13 February.
Place
Places mentioned · 15- Municipality of Porto Moniz · Subject
Porto Moniz
The municipality of Porto Moniz in north-western Madeira was created in 1835 after long local petitions and was repeatedly abolished and restored in the nineteenth century. Porto Moniz was never raised to the status of a vila, serving only as the seat of the concelho.
- Achadas da Cruz
Porto Moniz. Parish included in the municipality in 1835.
Achadas da Cruz is a small parish in the far north-west of Madeira, in the municipality of Porto Moniz; it grew from a sixteenth-century chapel and became an independent parish in 1848. It was transferred between municipalities several times: to Porto Moniz in 1835, briefly to Calheta in 1849–55, and to Calheta again when Porto Moniz was abolished in 1895. Its flat is the smallest plateau, with a crater-like lagoon 66 m across; free-ranging cattle and Euphorbia mellifera are found there. Other records include the benefactor Manuel de Pontes Câmara and the wreck of the yacht Varuna in 1909.
- Calheta
Municipality to which Ponta do Pargo was annexed in 1871.
Calheta is a town and municipality in western Madeira, created by royal charter of 1 July 1502. It later became the seat of a countship granted to the captains of Funchal and was reorganised as a concelho in 1835.
- Câmara de Lobos
Compared as another municipal seat never made a vila; also abolished in 1867.
Câmara de Lobos is a municipality of Madeira whose seat was historically a 'lugar' rather than a vila. The Elucidário quotes Gaspar Frutuoso's description of it and outlines the creation of the concelho in 1835 and later changes to its parishes.
- Fonte do Bispo
Calheta. Upland point on the proposed boundary.
Fonte do Bispo is an upland point that marked the proposed boundary of the municipality of Porto do Moniz. The Elucidário describes the Pico da Fonte do Bispo as a peak of about 1,300 m in the uplands of the parish of Fajã da Ovelha.
- Machico
Municipality to which Porto Moniz and the whole north originally belonged.
Machico is a town and municipality of Madeira set in a valley. The Elucidário traces its municipal history from its probable creation around 1451, through the loss of territory to Santa Cruz, São Vicente and Santana. It also records its arms, its privileges and its new town hall of 1929.
- Paul da Serra
Ponta do Sol. Upland plateau marking the proposed boundary.
The Paul da Serra is the only extensive plateau on Madeira, lying at about 1,500 m across four municipalities, where temperatures can fall to freezing. The Rabaçal and Risco springs, the Ribeira da Tabua and the Ribeira da Janela rise at its edges, and it feeds the main levadas. The Elucidário records its vegetation, agricultural trials, shelter houses, sheep-shearing gatherings, common-land use and an unfinished road project.
- Ponta do Pargo
Calheta. Parish originally in the municipality, transferred to Calheta in 1871.
Ponta do Pargo is a parish at Madeira's western extremity, transferred from Porto do Moniz to Calheta municipality in 1871, where a lighthouse long demanded was first lit in 1922. It is watered by the old Rabaçal levada, grows Sercial vines, gives its name to a white cattle sub-breed, and was the birthplace of Manuel da Costa Dias and João Pestana Júnior.
- Porto Moniz
Subject of the entry; municipality created in 1835.
North-western parish and municipality with a quay and a tolerable port that serves as a good landing when southerly winds close the south coast. It has one of the oldest Magdalene chapels in northern Madeira, whose feast falls on 22 July. It was the birthplace of Dr Manuel Gomes Jardim.
- Ribeira da Janela
Porto Moniz. Parish forming part of the municipality.
Ribeira da Janela is a parish on Madeira's north-west coast in the municipality of Porto Moniz. It is named after the island's longest and most abundant stream, which rises on the Paul da Serra and feeds the Rabaçal levadas, and after a window-like islet near its mouth. Its uplands include Fanal, and its forests were damaged by fire in 1919.
- Ribeira de João Delgado
Porto Moniz. Stream proposed as the eastern boundary of the municipality.
Ribeira de João Delgado is a stream in Seixal parish, proposed as the eastern boundary of the municipality of Porto Moniz. It is recommended as a coastal scenic spot.
- Ribeira dos Marinheiros
Calheta. Stream proposed as the southern boundary of the municipality.
Small, scenic stream rising on the Pico da Fonte do Bispo and crossing the parish of Fajã da Ovelha.
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People
People mentioned · 04- D. Manuel de Portugal e Castro1787–1854
Governor and captain-general of Madeira who on 10 April 1825 supported the locals' petition for a Porto Moniz municipality.
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Engineer and inspector of public works who in 1817 urged the Lisbon government to create a Porto Moniz municipality.
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Naval captain who was the first president of the Administrative Commission of the Porto Moniz council in 1835.
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Captain who became the first administrator of the Porto Moniz municipality in 1835.