Roots of Ferragudo

10/09/2021

Another great book about the history of Ferragudo will be presented on Saturday 18 September

O ano de 2020 ficou marcado pelo quingentésimo aniversário da fundação da povoação de Ferragudo, instituída pela carta de privilégios da Rainha D. Leonor, de 21 de agosto de 1520. Uma longevidade assinalável, digna de ser comemorada com a p***a e circunstância inerentes à memória centenária do lugar.

Sob a égide do 500º aniversário, a Câmara Municipal de Lagoa e a Junta de Freguesia de Ferragudo juntaram esforços e prepararam um conjunto de iniciativas que, ao longo do ano, foram tendo lugar sob o mote Ferragudo: 500 anos a Viver o Mar. Infortunadamente, as condições provocadas pela pandemia SARS-CoV-2 obrigaram ao adiamento de algumas atividades e ao consequente prolongamento das comemorações até ao presente ano. Neste vasto e rico programa comemorativo pretende-se envolver ativamente o povo de Ferragudo, como comunidade visada que é, mas também a participação de todos e todas os/as lagoenses. Um programa que, ao colocar em destaque a vila e sede de freguesia e o seu espaço territorial, mais que assinalar o acontecimento dos 500 anos per si, presta-se a deixar uma marca indelével sobre a passagem desta histórica e irrepetível ocasião.

A programação foi trabalhada no sentido de abranger as mais diversas áreas, das artes ao exercício físico, da historiografia à gastronomia, do artesanato às festividades populares. Neste âmbito, irá ter lugar um ciclo de conferências que discutirá o passado e o futuro da localidade, composto por um conjunto de palestras a cargo de investigadores que têm trabalho sobre a história e o património locais, distribuídas ao longo de três sessões ou painéis, entre os meses de setembro e novembro de 2021. O Painel 1 - O mar e o rio, decorrerá no Centro Pastoral e Social da Diocese do Algarve, em Ferragudo, a 18 de setembro, pelas 17:00 horas.

Nesse mesmo dia, e no âmbito do Ciclo de Conferências será lançado o livro "Ferragudo. 500 anos de criação do lugar (1520-2020)", da autoria de David Roque, Diogo Vivas, Ismael Estevens Medeiros e João Pedro Féteira.

A participação é gratuita mas requer inscrição prévia em: https://forms.gle/tm3BQw8mZYE7L48R9

18/08/2021

THIRD EDITION 'FERRAGUDO 500 ANOS' the 500-year history of Ferragudo is still popular even after 501 years

12/08/2021

With a year's postponement, the 500th anniversary of Ferragudo will be commemorated. Among other things, with a photo exhibition by the famous photographer and filmmaker Julio Bernardo, who was born in Ferragudo. In the middle of the last century, he portrayed the village and its people in a striking manner. His work will be exhibited from 14 to 21 August at the Casa do Real Compromisso Maritimo in Ferragudo (at the top of Rua Primeiro de Maio, near the church).

19/02/2021

Promise gifts in the church's museum, with which the crews of ships thank the patron saint 'Nossa Senhora da Conceição' of Ferragudo for the miracle of surviving the shipwreck.

19/02/2021

Picturesque museum in the church
The church in Ferragudo houses a small museum with centuries-old statues, vestments, liturgical objects and ancient writings. Very special are nine paintings of ships in distress. Such a painting is an 'ex voto' (promise gift), with which the crew thanks the patron saint 'Nossa Senhora da Conceição' of Ferragudo for the miracle that they survived the shipwreck. The oldest painting dates from 1774. The museum's top piece is a statue with Mary with baby Jesus on one side and Jesus on the cross on the other. This statue (which stands on a pedestal in front of the paintings) most probably originates from the 15th century, before Ferragudo was founded in 1520. The story goes that fishermen 'caught' this statue in their net and donated it to the church.

23/01/2021

Portuguese castle lord becomes Spanish marquis

The current residents of Castelo de São João do Arade are the succesful Portuguese businessman Vasco Manuel de Quevedo Pereira Coutinho and his wife Isabel Maria de Carvalho Machado da Silva Pereira Coutinho. Beautiful castle-worthy names. They try to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. This allows them to walk on the beach and do their shopping without being recognised. However, because of their close relationship with the Spanish royal family, they and the castle have been in the news a few times. The Spanish and Portuguese tabloids were full of it, with headlines such as 'Letizia's secret holiday in the Algarve', 'Who is the mysterious Portuguese friend who appointed King Juan Carlos marquis' and 'Where is Juan Carlos?

The secret holiday of Letizia
The holiday that Princess Letizia and her two daughters spent on Castelo de São João do Arade in the summer of 2010 caused a great deal of commotion in Spain. From a boat, they are photographed by paparazzi on the beach next to the castle, which is brought as sensational news on the cover of Spanish and Portuguese tabloids. The Spanish Royal Family is in a state of shock because every effort has been made to keep this visit secret. And, of course, it is suggested that the relationship of the crown couple is about to explode. It is quickly revealed that in those days Crown Prince Filipe accompanied his mother Queen Sophia to the birthday of her brother Constantine, the former King of Greece. This puts an end to this gossip. But who was Letizia visiting? The press starts digging and finds out that Filipe and Letizia have been staying at their good friends' castle in Ferragudo since the beginning of their relationship. Here they experience privacy. During the state visit to Portugal in 2016, King Filipe puts an end to all uncertainty and confirms that Portugal is one of their favourite private destinations "both before and after my marriage and afterwards with our daughters".

Marquis Pereira Coutinho
A year after 'Letizia's secret holiday', Lord of the Manor Vasco Pereira Coutinho is back in the news. Probably through the intercession of Filipe and Letizia, King Juan Carlos raises him to 'Marqués de Pereira Coutinho' in the Spanish peerage in 2011. Spain is surprised that this honour is bestowed on an 'unknown Portuguese'. A formal declaration praises "the Pereira Coutinho family's loyalty to the Spanish crown" and "since the 17th century, the Pereira Coutinho family has rendered important services to the crowns of Portugal and Spain and contributed to the deepening of relations between the two countries". As an example, a brave ancestor of Vasco Pereira Coutinho is highlighted, who in 1638, when the Spanish king was also king of Portugal, successfully fought against the barbaric Dutch who wanted to take possession of the Portuguese colony of Brazil. "After hours of hand-to-hand combat, the Dutch finally had to retreat".

Where is Juan Carlos?
In August 2020, haunted by scandal, Juan Carlos leaves Spain headlong. His motivation was that he did not want to jeopardise the monarchy and the position of his son King Felipe. The international press is frantically looking for his whereabouts. Where is Juan Carlos? Speculation is rife and one of the many possibilities mentioned is Castelo de São João do Arade. Ferragudo is international news again. The 120-hectare wine estate Quinta de Mata Mouros in Silves, also owned by the Pereira Coutinho family, is also mentioned as one of the possible hiding places. In the end, it turns out that Juan Carlos is not staying in the Algarve but has flown to Abu Dhabi in a private jet.

Ferragudo has a strong attraction for royalty. It began in 1520 when Queen Dona Leonor gave permission for a settlement to be established on the site of Ferragudo. The Portuguese crown prince Dom Duarte Pio de Bragança still has his holiday residence here high up on the cliffs between the Praia Grande and Praia do Molhe beaches. And now we also know that the Spanish royal family has Ferragudo high on their list of holiday destinations.

21/01/2021

Minister of Colonies lord of the castle in Ferragudo

After the widow of the first lord of the castle Joaquim Jose Coelho de Carvalho, who died in 1934, could no longer afford the high costs, the Castelo de São João do Arade was bought at auction in 1938 by Francisco José Vieira Machado. Coelho de Carvalho would turn in his grave if he knew that the Minister of Colonies of the authoritarian regime he so detested would become the new occupant of 'his' castle. Vieira Machado thoroughly rebuilt the castle and had the robust castle wall built around the estate. After the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, Ferragudo does everything in its power to erase anything that reminds of the dictatorship. Street names are replaced and it tries in vain to confiscate the castle "currently in the possession of the fascist heirs Vieira Machado" in order to establish a cultural centre.

Thorough renovation
The new owner, Vieira Machado, did not waste any time, carrying out a thorough renovation of the castle, including the characteristic tower. He bought the adjoining farmland from the Hungria family and built the robust castle wall around the estate. An old map shows a building on the Hungria land, which according to legend was called "The White House" and can still be seen in old photographs. Vieira Machado and the staff lived in the thoroughly renovated castle and The White House was being used as a barn.

Ferragudo tries to acquire castle
Francisco José Vieira Machado, who made a name for himself as a banker after his period as Minister of Colonies, died in 1972. Two years before the Carnation Revolution, which was instigated by officers who had just returned from the bloody colonial wars. Portugal is fed up with the dictatorship that lasted for almost 50 years. So is Ferragudo, which immediately sends a telegram to the 'Junta de Salvação Nacional' (Council of National Salvation): "The people of Ferragudo, assembled on 1 May, welcome the Council and give their unconditional support to the democratic programme to save the fatherland, and call for immediate measures to hand over Castelo Ferragudo to the people of Ferragudo for the establishment of a cultural centre, a national monument currently owned by the fascist heirs Vieira Machado".

Settlement after Carnation Revolution
Ferragudo replaces street names that have a link to the dictatorship. Rua António de Oliveira Salazar, the founder and symbol of the authoritarian regime, changes to Rua 25 de Abril, the day of the Carnation Revolution. And the kilometre-long Rua Francisco Vieira Machado, which runs through the village to Praia Grande beach, is split into two parts. The part through the village to the church becomes Rua Primeiro de Maio, Labour Day but also the day of the first council meeting in Ferragudo after the revolution. The part from Praia Grande and the castle, then still owned by the heirs of Vieira Machado, to the church becomes Rua dr Coelho de Carvalho. At the end of 1974 Castelo de São João do Arade is classified as a national monument. And Ferragudo, still awaiting a response to the urgent telegram, receives a polite but insipid response in 1976 from the Directorate of Monuments that they do not know what the Junta de Salvação thinks of this and that a decision will be made later on the possible acquisition of the castle by the State. This decision was never made.

Reportedly the successful Portuguese businessman Vasco Manuel de Quevedo Pereira Coutinho bought Castelo de São João do Arade from the heirs of Vieira Machado in 1998. On the site of the White House, a spacious and comfortable villa has been built, where the family stays regularly and not unnoticed. When they are here, the flag flies on the castle tower and when famous friends visit, paparazzi are lurking.

19/01/2021

Castle Lord Coelho de Carvalho

Forte de São João has withstood over 200 years of storms, earthquakes and tsunamis when it was decommissioned as a military fortress in 1861. No exciting stories of battles are to be found. Apparently the deterrent effect of the two forts on either side of the Arade River was enough. In 1892, the then 37-year-old scientist and writer Joaquim José Coelho de Carvalho managed to rent the at that time dilapidated fortress from the state. Four years later it was bought for him by his mother-in-law.

Popular literary salon
In the following years Coelho de Carvalho transforms the dilapidated fortress into the inhabitable 'Castelo de São João do Arade'. Here he works as a critical 'writer, poet and playwright' on an impressive oeuvre that "was not well received by the closed and conservative society in Portugal". He was against traditional marriage and in favour of divorce and free love. He had more success in artist circles, who came from far and wide to his 'literary salon' in Ferragudo. He could also count on appreciation from the scientific world. Dr Coelho de Carvalho was rector of the leading University of Coimbra and president of the Academy of Sciences.

In exile
The last years of his life, he says, he spent in exile at his castle as a result of his relentless criticism of the military regime in Portugal that has been in power since 1926. One of his last literary works was 'Mascaras abaixo' (Masks Down), a critical letter in verse to the president at that time "Letter to Your Excellency Mr. General António Óscar de Fragosa Carmona, written during his exile in Castelo do Arade by the former Rector of the University of Coimbra and former President of the Academy of Sciences in Lisbon". Coelho de Carvalho wrote to Carmano as a general and categorically refused to recognise him as President of Portugal.

Rua dr Coelho de Carvalho
Joaquim José Coelho de Carvalho died in 1934 at the age of 82 in Castelo de São João do Arade and was one of the first to be buried in the then new cemetery in Ferragudo. After his death, his widow left the castle, which was unaffordable for her due to the high costs. In 1938 it was bought at auction by Francisco José Vieira Machado, then Minister of Colonies of the authoritarian regime so detested by Coelho de Carvalho. After the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, Coelho de Carvalho posthumously got some payback when the road along the castle wall to Praia Grande was changed from 'Rua Francisco Vieira Machado' to 'Rua dr Coelho de Carvalho'.

Although it is Coelho de Carvalho who renames the fortress 'Castelo de São João do Arade', old photographs show that the characteristic castle tower with battlements was not built by him but by his successor Machado.

13/01/2021

‘Napoleon Bonaparte in Ferragudo'.

In 1807, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte takes Portugal using a ruse. The Portuguese royal family and the high-ranking nobility flee to Brazil with their gold reserves. The French extort the already poor population of Portugal until, in June 1808, the citizens of Olhão revolt and, after a bloody fight, chase the French away with "pitchforks, catapults, crossbows, swords, sticks and stones". Also in Ferragudo, "fishermen drunk on wine and beer" do not remain silent and settle accounts with the collaborators who, by order of the French, have collected the sky-high taxes.

French raid on Portugal
During the French Revolution in 1789, the French people rised up against the aristocratic nobility and monarchy. Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself emperor and went to war to assert his power in the surrounding countries. He made a deal with the Spanish king to jointly invade Portugal through Spain. The cunning Napoleon thus played a trick on the Spaniards which would cost them dearly. In 1807 armies of France and Spain invaded Portugal and arrived in Lisbon on 30 November, where the day before the royal family and high-ranking nobility had left with a fleet for Brazil. The Portuguese offer little or no resistance and look forward to 'liberty, equality and fraternity', the motto of the French Revolution. But that is not to be. The Portuguese fleet on its way to Brazil has taken the gold reserves with it and Napoleon maintains the principle that the country he invades must pay for the costs of the French army. He imposes a forced tax of 100 million French francs on the Portuguese people. Those who do not pay await "torture and death penalty". The Spanish, too, learn the true nature of the French. French troops are not only advanced to Lisbon, but also to Madrid, where the Spanish king is deposed and replaced by Napoleon's brother Joseph. Spanish soldiers in Portugal return to Spain in a hurry, thus leaving the French alone in Portugal.

The bloody revolt in Olhão
The initial desire of the Portuguese people for 'liberty, equality and fraternity' is transformed into fear and intense hatred of the French. In early June 1808, uprisings against the French break out in northern Portugal. Two fishing boats from Porto sail to the Algarve to report this, with the intention that the people here will also revolt. And that happens. On 16 June, church bells rang in Olhão and the population was called to battle. "Young and old, men and women, fishermen and farmers" attacked the French garrison with "pitchforks, catapults, crossbows, swords, sticks and stones". After bloody fighting, during which weapons and ammunition were taken from the French, the French soldiers fled. They managed to regroup in Faro and escape to the Alentejo. In October, with important help from the English, the French were driven out of Portugal. Napoleon tried a few more times, in vain, to conquer Portugal, but after he was finally defeated in Waterloo in 1815 and exiled to Saint Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the French's urge to conquer was temporarily over.

Uprising in Ferragudo
In Ferragudo, the captain of the Forte de São João refuses to serve under the French and the fort is taken over by the French. When a messenger informs the French soldiers in the fortress about the bloody uprising in Olhão, they leave like a thief in the night. On 21 June, the Portuguese flag flies again on the fort. But it is not over for the exploited and humiliated citizens of Ferragudo. Day of reckoning is yet to come, when collaborators who had colluded with the French are dealt with. Friday 24 June is a celebration in Ferragudo. It is the day that the birth of the fort's namesake, Prophet São João Baptiste, is celebrated. That day, the local magistrate, a kind of itinerant judge with far-reaching powers, visits Ferragudo with his entourage. He is seen as a traitor to the country, because he had to collect the sky-high taxes on behalf of the French. He and his entourage are mocked and attacked by "fishermen drunk on wine and beer". His wig is pulled off his head and "someone even raises an axe to his head and is about to kill him when another in the crowd shouts that it is better to arrest him". "Covered in blood from two wounds, one on the head and the other on the hand", the magistrate is taken to the fortress and detained. On Sunday 26 June, the commander of the Portuguese army in Lagoa, which is getting organised again, comes to Ferragudo to negotiate with the leaders of the popular uprising about the magistrate's fate. The outcome is that the magistrate is released on condition that he promises in writing never to return here. The magistrate agrees and takes the shortest route by sea to Lagos. Now that peace has returned to Ferragudo, the fishermen can set sail again the early Monday morning to catch their much needed daily fish.