The Palafitic Pier of Carrasqueira, Comporta virtual tour
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The Palafitic Pier of Carrasqueira Comporta in Alcaçer do Sal
The Palafitic Pier of Carrasqueira Comporta is a place known for being an example of a type of construction that originated in the 19th century. XVIII in the coastal region of Aveiro and Leiria.
Stilts are constructions erected on poles that arise due to the need for people to build on water. The word stilt is used to designate buildings on piles or pillars, and there are indications of them since Neolithic times.
The term haystack is the name given to wooden buildings of a stilt character found on the Portuguese coast. The origin of this name is unknown, but it may be related to straw, the material used in the construction of the roof, later replaced by the tile, for maintenance reasons (periodic replacement of the straw).
In Portugal, it is a type of construction originating from the coast region of Murtosa, Aveiro, Mira and Vieira, used by local fishermen, who during the autumn and winter months looked for sustenance in the Tagus and Sado basins, working in fishing and fishing. rice paddies. This migration began in the century. XVIII, and Avieiros were those who came from Vieira de Leiria, and Murtoseiros those from Murtosa. Its wooden buildings on stakes seemed to be displaced from the flatland where trees were rare.
This building was not used in Ribatejo, where the houses were single-storey with adobe or stone walls, whitewashed, and with a fireplace raised from the ground. However, the wooden houses on stakes and porches seemed useful and necessary due to the seasonal floods of the river.
Families with better economic conditions built their houses on the ground floor, with “gorse” or reed and, when they could, they bought wood to gradually build their houses in the image of those who lived on the coast. There were also those who, as they still did not have savings, continued to live in their boats (batteries), grouped in small nuclei right at the water’s edge.
These boats used in fishing were also used as a family home. Many of these families had two batteries, one for housing, the other for sailing. The old boats were used as housing, with the hull facing the sky and supported by poles. The stilts started to be erected using only the reed, abundant vegetation in this area, and when the economic situation allowed, they started to replace the reed with wood.
