Mills / Moinhos

Among the privileges granted to the grantees of this archipelago was the exclusive right to build mills or watermills, granting permission for others to do so only when they saw fit, subject to special taxation. This privilege constituted one of the most abundant sources of income for the captain-grantees, which was very substantial. In the place still called the Moinhos and on the right bank of the Santa Luzia stream, they owned a considerable number of watermills, many of which, not too long ago, the Marquises of Castelo Melhor leased to various people. The Moinhos or do Marquês square retains these names, as there were several watermills there, which were the property of the Castelo Melhor estate, into which the institution of the grantees of Funchal was incorporated. In a letter or instructions addressed by Infante D. Henrique to João Gonçalves Zarco, it is said: "... send João Afonso to correct another mill and to build a water mill like the one in Tomar." It is affirmed that it was in Caniço, outside Funchal, the first place where a mill was built, and there is still a place there called Azenha.

See Levadas.