Serra do Bouro explained

Type:parish
Official Name:Serra do Bouro
Region:Oeste e Vale do Tejo
Cim:Oeste
District:Leiria
Municipality:Caldas da Rainha
Coordinates:39.449°N -9.176°W
Area Total:18.21
Population Total:703
Population As Of:2011
Dissolved:2013

Serra do Bouro is a former civil parish in the municipality of Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Caldas da Rainha — Santo Onofre e Serra do Bouro.[1] [2] [3] The civil parish had an area of [4] and had a population of 703 at the 2011 census.[5] It the least populous freguesia of the municipality.

Localities (lugares) within Serra do Bouro includeCidade,Cabeço da Vela,Casais Antunes,Casais da Boavista,Casais da Cidade,Casais da Espinheira,Casal do Celão,Espinheira,Granja,Zambujeiro.[6] Serra do Bouro has cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Principal activities of the inhabitants include agriculture and civil construction.

Serra do Bouro once belonged to the municipality of Óbidos, but the freguesia was transferred to Caldas da Rainha as this latter municipality developed economically. Two other freguesias of Caldas da Rainha were once part of Serra do Bouro, but were elevated to the status of freguesia themselves: Foz do Arelho in 1919 and Nadadouro in 1957.

History

The area of Serra, as the locals know it, was first inhabited by the Veiga family in the 16th century. This freguesia changed little throughout much time. Electricity and municipal water reached Serra in the 1980s.

Throughout the 1900s most of the area's inhabitants emigrated to other countries, particularly to the United States. One of the greatest concentrations of Serra do Bouro descendants is in the area of Perth Amboy, New Jersey (sister city to Caldas da Rainha).

Serra has a cemetery called the "Cemitério dos Ingleses" (English Cemetery) where remains of two children and 6 women are buried from the October 28, 1892 shipwreck of the S.S. Roumania, an English ship.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Law nr. 11-A/2013, pages 552 30-31. 20 July 2014. Diário da República. Diário da República. Portuguese. pdf.
  2. Web site: Assembleia da República (Portugal). Lei n.o 11-A/2013 de 28 de janeiro: Reorganização administrativa do território das freguesias. Diário da República, 1.ª série — N.º 19 — 28 de janeiro de 2013. Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, SA. Portuguese. Administrative reorganization of the territory of the civil parishes. PDF. 19 October 2013.
  3. Web site: Assembleia da República (Portugal). Declaração de Retificação n.o 19/2013. Diário da República, 1.ª série—N.º 62—28 de março de 2013. Portuguese. Declaration of Rectification no. 19/2013. PDF. 19 October 2013.
  4. Web site: Area (km²) of national territory by Geographic localization (Administrative division); Annual. Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Statistics Portugal). 13 May 2014. (Click "Change selection conditions" to choose the parish under Portugal > Leiria > Caldas da Rainha.)
  5. Web site: Resident population (No.) by Place of residence and Sex; Decennial. Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Statistics Portugal). 13 May 2014. (Click "Change selection conditions" to choose the parish under Portugal > Continente > Centro > Oeste > Caldas da Rainha.)
  6. Web site: Divisões Territoriais. Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Statistics Portugal). 2009-02-02.