BOBBIN LACE & BERLENGAS

 

“Elected long time ago as the main location for diving with a hard hat in the Portuguese coast, the Berlengas’

waters hide everything the human imagination can create.”

BOBBIN LACE “Onde há rede , tem renda” (Fishermen’s wives)

Due to the lack of fish & crops Raise family income

Agile embroiderers (decided to use their skills to start doing Bobbin Lace)

Hard to explain

BOBBIN LACE - History Milan – France (Louis XIV)

Only in the 16 century B.L. appeared in Portugal

Four important centers:

Vila do Conde, Peniche, Lagos, Olhão

Later – Setúbal & Sesimbra

1887 Creation of D. Maria Pia Industrial Drawing School (Later Josefa de óbidos industrial embroidery school) = the lace of peniche reached the highest level of perfection

BOBBIN LACE - Curiosities With industrialization, bobbin lace in peniche started decreasing.

Luckily, with the appearance of several facilities, the art is now safe

Curisosities:

Girls learn to embroid with 8 or 9 bobbins but with time they can reach as much as 64

Portuguese women took the activity to brazil where it is called “rendas de praia”

 

Peniche

Sta Catarina, Brazil

BERLENGAS Location: 12km from

the Peniche port

1500 meters long and 800 meters wide

with a perimeter of 4000 meters

reaches 88 meters Composed by three

islets

Berlenga/Estelas/

Farilhões-Forcados

Historic Intro Due to its strategic location, the island has seen its

waters anchored by vessels of many time periods

The memory of these vessels is maintained by the many sub-aquatic findings produced in recent years

stone anchors from the Phoenician-Punic eras

stocks of led and amphora anchors of the Roman period

artillery objects (15c)

Historic Intro St. John the Baptist Fortress:

Odered by John IV in 1651

Concluded in 1656

 Built to prevent the island’s occupation by the North African corsairs

Survived until June 1666, when the most remarkable war episode of its history took place (Spanish attack)

Historic Intro Duke of Braganza’s

Lighthouse:

Built in 1841, 29m high,

two lighthouse keepers 24/7

Geology

The Berlenga granite corresponds to a unique geological type in the European continent

Unlike the coast of Peniche, formed by sedimentary rocks, the archipelago of Berlengas is mainly formed by magma and metamorphic rocks,

just like the highly deformed

red granite, gneiss, and shale –

can prove

Natural Reserve (NCI) Region of great interest for botanical specialists with

several endemic species and species of limited distribution

A nesting spot for some species of ocean birds and a passing point for several migratory species

A Maritime Reserve of great wild life richness

Natural Reserve (NCI) Why?

Biological value of the maritime surrounding area

Botanic interest

Fauna (Maritime Birds)

Archeological

Sub-aquatic patrimony

Natural Reserve (NCI) Birds:

Nesting species- European shag

Cory Shearwater

Guillemot

Other birds - Lesser black-backed gulls

Yellow legged gulls (Plague)

Natural Reserve (NCI)

Reptiles:

Bocage’s wall lizards

Jewelled lizard

Natural Reserve (NCI) Mammals:

European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Black rat (Rattus rattus)

Natural Reserve (NCI) Flora

Creeper vegetation, composed of herbaceous and shrubby plants

Endemic species:

 Armeria berlengensis

Herniaria berlengiana

Carpobrotus edulis

Cornish Tree