Valleys
Original title: Vales
A short entry on the valleys of Madeira, quoting a lyrical passage from the Diccionario Universal Ilustrado Portuguez that singles out the valleys of Machico, Funchal (with Vale Formoso), Jardim da Serra, São Vicente and Penha de Águia.
The valleys of Madeira
On this island, says the Diccionario Universal Ilustrado Portuguez, ‘there are valleys of indescribable scenery, in every variety of rustic beauty: everything there that is art, cultivation, the work of man, becomes incidental, paltry, almost nothing to the beholder, and nature alone displays her grandeur in the profusion of her spontaneous splendours. There the brush will fall from the hand, the string of the lyre will snap trembling, and the pen of the prose writer who attempts a description will exhaust itself in grandiloquent commonplaces, for only the power that produced these pictures with its creative fiat, taking volcanoes and the sea as its instruments, could render their lines and hues. Of these valleys we shall mention five. To the east, that of Machico. To the south, that of Funchal, including within it the Vale Formoso (‘beautiful valley’), the whole forming a vast amphitheatre-like panorama, the delight of every traveller who enters the bay and the most ample harbour that adorn its shores. Twelve and a half kilometres from here, in the high reaches of the parish (freguesia) of Estreito de Câmara de Lobos (‘the narrows of Câmara de Lobos’), the valley of Jardim da Serra (‘upland garden’), rich in varied native vegetation, in the rugged recess of the wild mountains, dark green with untamed native woodland, which shelter it in an almost complete circle, leaving it open only to the south; in that direction, threaded by two streams that at last unite in a showy waterfall, it stretches with them down to the sea. To the north, the valley of São Vicente (‘St Vincent’), where the little town stands, seat of the municipality (concelho) and judicial district (comarca) of that name: a broad valley, most pleasant in itself and striking for the contrast of the inaccessible, uncultivated mountains that, touching the clouds, surround it on all sides except the north, by the sea. And finally, towards the east, the encircled valley of Penha de Águia, a graceful name which in its sublime concision declares that there stands a very lofty promontory, dark green, towering over the surrounding land, majestic, a worthy throne for the queen of the air. This valley is formed by the parish of Faial and that of Porto da Cruz (‘harbour of the cross’), and its setting, together with the crag that gave it its name, is so astonishingly beautiful that it has no rival to humble it among the Edens of Europe, perhaps of the world....’
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Places mentioned · 10- Vales · Subject
Câmara de Lobos
This short entry on the valleys of Madeira quotes a lyrical passage from the Diccionario Universal Ilustrado Portuguez. The passage singles out the valleys of Machico, Funchal (with Vale Formoso), Jardim da Serra, São Vicente and Penha de Águia.
- Estreito de Câmara de Lobos
Câmara de Lobos. Parish whose upland reaches contain the Jardim da Serra valley.
Estreito de Câmara de Lobos is a parish in the municipality of Câmara de Lobos, Madeira, created in the early sixteenth century around the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Graça. It was the main centre of rye-straw hat weaving and cheese-making, grows Sercial, Verdelho, Tinta and Bastardo, and became a julgado of the Funchal comarca in 1927.
- Faial
Santana. One of the two parishes forming the Penha de Águia valley.
Faial is a north-coast parish of Santana municipality created in 1550, whose mountain springs feed the Levada da Serra. It contains Chícharos and the Diferença chapel, owns the eastern part of Pico Ruivo, and is noted for cheese-making and columnar basalt.
- Funchal
The Funchal valley is praised as a vast amphitheatre seen by travellers entering the bay.
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.
- Jardim da Serra
Câmara de Lobos. Mountain valley rich in native vegetation, with two streams joining in a waterfall.
Jardim da Serra is a scenic upland valley at the northern end of Estreito de Câmara de Lobos parish, Madeira, rich in native vegetation and with views over the Curral das Freiras. The English consul Henry Veitch built a country house there, first attempted tea cultivation in Madeira there and is buried in a mausoleum there; its high vineyards ripen late.
- Machico
The valley of Machico is named as the eastern of the island's notable valleys.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Penha de Águia
Santana. Tall promontory giving its name to the surrounding valley, praised as unrivalled in beauty.
Truncated-pyramid sea cliff nearly 600 m high on Madeira's north coast, praised for giving its name to a valley of unrivalled beauty. Stuebel considered it the remnant of a destroyed secondary crater, and its seaward face shows double dykes. It is a breeding site of the boieiro and gave its name to an entail.
- Porto da Cruz
Machico. One of the two parishes forming the Penha de Águia valley.
North-coast parish created in 1577 and noted for good-quality wines. It was transferred from Santana to Machico municipality in 1852 and was the seat of a capitania-mor. It was also a fishing port where some sperm whales were landed.
- São Vicente
Northern valley containing the small town that heads the municipality and judicial district.
São Vicente is a town and municipality on Madeira's north coast. It was raised to a town (vila) by royal charter in 1744 to free the northern parishes from distant Machico, and was reorganised as a municipality in 1835. The entry also covers later boundary changes involving Porto Moniz and plans to move the municipal seat.
- Vale Formoso
Funchal. Included with the Funchal valley in the panorama described.
Vale Formoso is a valley and locality in the parish of Santa Luzia, Funchal, a notable part of the Funchal valley, and was once owned entirely by Gonçalo Aires Ferreira. It is the site of the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Vale and of the demolished 1744 chapel of Nossa Senhora da Esperança. Dr Kalley's quinta there was sacked on 9 August 1846, and his furniture and library were burnt.