Ribeira de João Gomes
Monte · Funchal
stream in the municipality of Funchal, rising in the Serra do Poiso, Madeira
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.
1Mentioned in
- Settlement and colonisation — Stream beside which the Calhau church stood.
- Customs houses — The early settlement grew east of this stream.
- Municipal Slaughterhouse — The 1941 slaughterhouse stands on its right bank.
- Cortina da Cidade (city walls) — The eastern walls followed its right bank.
- Lavradores (Largo or Praça dos) — The square lies on its left bank.
- Nova de Santa Maria (street) — Street's starting point.
- Curral dos Romeiros — Stream crossed by the Curral bridge, above which is a small waterfall.
- Santa Luzia (parish) — Eastern limit of the parish.
- Canary holly (Ilex canariensis) — A place where the holly grows.
- Old Funchal — Stream beside which the Calhau church stood.
- Our Lady of Calhau (church) — Stream on whose left bank the church stood and whose floods destroyed it.
- Fortifications — Eastern limit of the planned city walls.
- Algae — Stream where the very rare Lemanea fluviatilis lives beneath the Curral dos Romeiros bridge.
- Residences of Zarco — Stream to whose bank the first hospital later moved.
- Conceição (square) — Valley visible from the square.
- São Filipe (fort) — Other stream bounding the fort's site.
- Parishes — Stream on whose left bank Funchal's first settlement grew.
- Stream walls — Houses demolished in 1806 for new walls; walls built 1847–48.
- Funchal – I. Origin of the name — Stream beside which one of the first settlement nuclei formed.
- Entailed foundations — Stream beside which João Gomes founded entails.
- Cancioneiro de Resende (Madeira in the) — Stream named after the poet, who held sesmaria land on its banks.
- Barca (square) — Stream on whose left bank the square lies.
- São Filipe da Praça (fort) — The fort stood between its mouth and that of the Santa Luzia stream.
- Waterfalls — Stream with waterfalls.
- City gates — Three gates stood in the wall along it.
- Oudinot (street) — Stream once crossed by a bridge just below the street.
- Santa Maria Maior (parish) — Stream marking the western limit of the parish.
- Ferreira (Gonçalo Aires) — End point of the former Rua de Gonçalo Aires.
- Gomes (João) — Stream on whose banks he held sesmaria land and which bears his name.
- Flash floods — Stream whose overflow caused great destruction in 1765, 1803 and 1856.
- Myrtle (Myrtus communis, forma lusitanica) — Where myrtle grows wild.
2Chronology
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A great flood in Funchal largely destroyed the church of Nossa Senhora do Calhau (Santa Maria Maior) and its adjoining hospital.
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The great flood of 9 October 1803, considered Madeira's greatest calamity, devastated Funchal and other parts of the island, killing about 600 people and destroying the Calhau church, stream walls, bridges and chapels in Machico, Santa Cruz and elsewhere. It prompted Oudinot's mission and the city's spread outwards.
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Brigadier Reinaldo Oudinot arrived in Funchal in February 1804 and channelled and walled the town's three streams; floods in December 1804 proved the walls, and in 1806 houses by the João Gomes and Santa Luzia streams were demolished for the works.
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A report noted that protective works were still lacking on Funchal's streams.
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The new Municipal Slaughterhouse of Funchal was built.