Vila Garcia

The parish includes the following villages: Vila Garcia, Cairrão, Carapito da Légua, Quinta do Ordonho, Casais de João Saraiva and José de Pina Lobão and Quintas das Naves.In 883 the King Afonso III donated many areas of Beira to the Santiago Cathedral, which is still the patron saint of this parish. The first attempt to establish settlers occurred on the shores of the Noémi river, near the river mouth of Ribeiro do Ordonho, in the area still known as Quintas de Vila Garcia.The Church of Santiago was built on these estates in Vila Garcia.According to the legend, the community gradually moved to the ‘’Summit‘’ to escape the plagues of grasshoppers which infested the fields in drought years, devastating all the crops. Since ancient days, the inhabitants of this parish used to undertake a yearly pilgrimage on the third Sunday of May to the Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Azenhas, next to the Monsanto town, in recognition of being freed from these plagues.It is likely that the ‘Villa’ near the stream already existed during the reign of King Afonso III of Asturias, who conquered it from the Moors. After the Moorish were expelled, a certain Garcia Moniz was donated the rural village of Travanca by the Portuguese Count D. Henrique in 1102 and later acquired a number of estates and properties throughout the region.But it wasn't until around the 12th-13th centuries that the historical basis of the resettlement was determined at a time when King Sancho I repopulated and founded the city of Guarda and granted it the entire territory of the cudana basin and the area surrounding the Montes Germelos in which the modern parish of Vila Garcia is located.Religious Patrimony: The Parish Church of Vila Garcia ( São Tiago Maior Church).