Museum · Room 3
The park, the fair, the church left unfinished, the land survey and the quinta’s accounts.
Each document has its image, what it says in a few lines, the original passage and where it is kept. Quotations keep the spelling of the document.
Click the image to enlarge.
1747
Father Luís Cardoso’s Diccionario Geografico describes the Duke of Lafões’s quinta in the parish of Arrifana. In the park there were red deer, fallow deer, wild boar, wolves and foxes.
«huma tapada, que consta de tres léguas de muros grandes, e capazes de sosterem veados»
In English: a park with three leagues of high walls, able to hold deer.
Click the image to enlarge.
1752
By a provision of 25 August 1752 King José I grants the Duke of Lafões an annual fair on the last Sunday of August, beside the church of Nossa Senhora da Ameixoeira.
«fundada em terras dele Duque pertencentes à sua Quinta da Torre Bela»
Document shown without an image.
1757–1773
Thirteen letters from D. Joana Perpétua de Bragança to her brother D. João, the future 2nd Duke, describe daily life on the quinta. In 1758 the 1st Duke, already ill, goes to Torre Bela to begin a church.
In 1761 there were too many rabbits, and tenants were leaving land untilled «for fear of this game». The wild cattle were «the only livestock found in good condition». The steward resigned because his wife «does not want to go and live at Torre-Bella».
«p.a donde o Duque vai com o gosto de principiar a Igreja que sempre desejou fazer»
In English: where the Duke is going with the pleasure of beginning the church he has always wished to build.
Click the image to enlarge.
1781
The church begun beside the house was never finished: the walls were left «in parts up to the cornice». In November 1781, at the request of the 2nd Duke, it is deconsecrated so that the walls may serve for houses.
«mandou demolir a estructura do mesmo Altar que era de Pedra e cal»
In English: he ordered the structure of the said altar, which was of stone and lime, to be demolished.
Click the image to enlarge.
1784
On 5 May 1784 Queen Maria I orders the chief magistrate of Santarém to measure, mark out and survey the quinta. The Duke had asked for it so that the boundaries would be settled for ever. The whereabouts of that survey book are unknown today.
«para constar a todo o tempo com legalidade a certeza athé onde chegão os Limites da sua Quinta da Torre bella»
In English: so that it may be known at all times, with legal force, exactly how far the boundaries of his Quinta da Torre Bela extend.
Click the image to enlarge.
1841–1846
The quinta’s accounts show who ran it day to day: José Joaquim Pinto, gamekeeper, on a salary of 57$600 réis a year.
The olive oil left in ox-carts for Azambuja. The largest harvest in these accounts is that of 1841, about 310 cântaros.
«Conta que tem Jozé Joaquim Pinto Como Coiteiro nesta Quinta da Torre Bella»
Click the image to enlarge.
1857
The Livro Tombo describes the whole quinta: the manor, «for the most part single-storey», the chapel of St John, the brick-vaulted stables for 40 horses, the mills, the fountains and the wall.
By 1857 the House itself no longer knew from whom it had inherited the quinta: the book leaves the name blank.
«parte por herança d . . . .»
Click the image to enlarge.
1868
With entails abolished in 1863 and D. Maria Carlota dead in 1865, the partition of 1868 reserves Torre Bela for the eldest son, D. Caetano Segismundo de Bragança, then aged 12. It would be his until 1927.
«Vindo assim a parte da reserva a ser feita nos bens seguintes = Torre Bella e pertenças»