Quintas

It seems to us that the word quinta (country estate) has a special meaning here in Madeira, one that sets it markedly apart from the sense in which it is generally understood in the rest of our country. On Madeira the term usually denotes a rural and urban property, of greater or lesser extent, walled all the way round or at least along a considerable part of its perimeter, and always containing a good dwelling house surrounded by gardens and walks shaded by clumps of trees. It is entered through a wrought-iron gate of some architectural pretension, opening onto a drive that leads straight to the residence. Many quintas include land cultivated with vines and sugar cane, vegetable gardens, orchards and groves of trees. Some have buildings for various farm purposes, stables and dwellings for the tenant farmers, and the oldest have, besides the main house, an adjoining chapel, formerly for the private use of their owners.

The most important and sumptuous quinta on this island is that of Palheiro Ferreiro (‘blacksmith’s barn’), which we have already described on page 43 of this volume. Next comes the so-called Quinta do Monte (‘estate of Monte’), in the parish (freguesia) of that name, which we have also dealt with elsewhere (Volume II, page 461).

After these, special mention is due to the Quinta Lambert (see that entry) and the Quinta da Vigia; the Quinta das Cruzes (see Moradias de Zargo); the Quinta de São João, in Rua das Maravilhas, the former manor house of the holders of the entail of São João, where its present owner, Dr Rui Bettencourt da Câmara, had the chapel of Our Lady of Protection and of Remedies built in 1940; the Quinta do Vale, in Rua do Vale Formoso, which at other times possessed some curious plants, studied by Dr Lippold in 1838 and by Dr Oswald Heer in 1852, its present owner being Dr Grabham (1921); the Quinta da Levada and the Quinta de Santa Luzia, the latter belonging to the Blandy family and the former to the Cossart family; the Quinta da Palmeira, belonging to H. Hinton, whose vegetation was studied by Harcourt (see that entry); the Quinta da Mãe dos Homens, on the Caminho do Meio, owned by the Viscount of Cacongo; the Quinta Magnolia, in Travessa do Dr. Pita; the Quinta Olavo, on the Caminho dos Saltos; the Quinta Pavão, in Rua da Imperatriz; the Quinta das Maravilhas, at the end of the street of that name; the Quinta do Til, on the road of that name; the Quinta do Deão, also called the Quinta Stoddart because the English consul of that name lived there, and which the English usually call The Deanery (see Governing Board); the Quinta da Achada, on the road of that name, formerly belonging to the English Penfold family; the Quinta da Bela Vista, in the locality (sítio) of Nazaré, in São Martinho; the Quinta Sant’Ana, on the Caminho do Monte, today the property of the Government, having formed part of the assets of the Sanatoria Company (Companhia dos Sanatórios); the Quintas do Prazer and de Belo Monte, in Nossa Senhora do Monte, both formerly owned by the former English consul Murray and today belonging, the first of them, to Alfredo Guilherme Rodrigues, who has set up the ‘Monte Palace Hotel’ in it (1921); the Quinta das Laginhas, the Quinta da Cova and the Quinta do Pico da Pedra, all three in the same parish; the Quinta do Miradouro, at Choupana; the Quinta da Choupana, which is said to have given its name to the place where it stands; the Quinta do Visconde de Cacongo, in the same locality; the Quinta do Pico do Infante; the Quinta de Vale Paraíso, belonging to the viscount of that title, one of the finest and largest in the parish of Camacha, whose first owner was the Englishman Randall; the Quinta Ornelas, above the church of the same parish, belonging to the present representative of the holders of the entail of Caniço (1921); the Quinta dos Tanquinhos, on the Caminho do Palheiro, the property of the heirs of Dr José António de Almada; the Quinta da Alegria, in the locality of that name, in São Roque, belonging to the Counts of Torre Bela; the Quinta do Barão da Conceição, at Caniço, belonging to Dr Nuno Ferreira Jardim (1921); the Quintas do Seixeiro, Aloisio, Bianchi and Serrado das Ameixeiras, at Santo António da Serra; etc., etc.