Story

The inventory identifies a V-wall trap in Vilar de Cunhas. The date of construction remains uncertain: it discusses hypotheses between the Modern Era and the 19th century. One detail distinguishes it from other fires: one of the walls rises towards the well. The reading of digits on a slab is also uncertain, between 1668 and 1868. Doubt helps to understand why inventory does not set a single date.

The memory of 1758 lists three wooden bridges in the parish: Vagalhafos, in Quinta de Vila de Lobos; Santa Senhorinha, near the church; and Olela. Names approach the crossings of the farms, the place of worship and the inhabited places.

The same report mentions singing bridges in São Clemente and São Martinho do Arco de Baúlhe. Wood and stone appear, thus, in a single description of the river. The enumeration does not provide construction dates nor proves the survival of structures.

In memory of 23 May 1758, the abbot João de Lima Lobo de Noronha enumerates sixteen places. The enumeration includes Covilhã, Augueiros, Presas, Nogueira, Candedo, Ribeiro, Outeiro, Porcarice, Faia, Togais, Souto, Ribeira, Tuesdays, Breia, Casa Nova and Joio. Situa the church out of place and describes the parish on a northern slope.

The list helps to think of a territory distributed by small cores, and not just around the matrix. Names belong to historical transcription; they are not a current administrative list or allow to draw the boundaries of each place by themselves.

The same testimony presents two counts: 99 neighbors and 418 people. The document separates them; they should not add or read “neighbours” as another total of inhabitants. It also distinguishes scales: when speaking of the municipality, the abbot refers to eighteen parishes, but declares not knowing the number of its neighbors. Knowing what the author did not tell is as useful as knowing the numbers he left.

Ribeiro and Ribeira appear as different entries. Outeiro is here in the list of places of Faia: the coincidence with the name of another parish does not authorize to shift this reference on the map. The complete list allows to compare names, while chapels help to perceive some relations between places and houses.

In the memory signed in 23 May 1758, the Abbot of Faia declared that there was no ruin caused by the earthquake. It is a counterpoint to the testimony of Alvite, who described damage to the crosses of a chapel. The absence of ruins in the account does not demonstrate that the earthquake was not felt: it shows what was recorded in that answer. Reading the two documents brings the general history of local experiences closer.

It is useful to notice who writes and when: the answer is from João de Lima Lobo de Noronha, abbot of Faia, and arises in a set of questions that also covers places, crops, fairs and mail. The earthquake is one of the subjects of this local portrait. The signature of 1758 dates the testimony, not the event that he recalls.