View source for Parchal

{{Infobox Portuguese subdivision
|type = parish
|image_flag = Pt-par1.png
|official_name = Parchal
|image_shield = LGA-parchal.PNG
|region             = [[Algarve]]
|CIM                = [[Algarve]]
|district           = [[Faro District|Faro]]
|municipality       = [[Lagoa, Algarve|Lagoa]]
|coordinates        = {{coord|37|08|12|N|08|30|44|W|display=it}}
|area_total  = 3.86
|population_total  = 4019
|population_as_of = 2011
|dissolved=2013
|postal_code   = 8400
|website     = http://www.jf-parchal.pt
}}
'''Parchal''' is a town and a former [[Freguesia (Portugal)|civil parish]] in the municipality (''[[concelho]]'') of [[Lagoa Municipality (Algarve)|Lagoa]], Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish [[Estômbar e Parchal]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Law nr. 11-A/2013, page 552 59|url=http://dre.pt/pdf1sdip/2013/01/01901/0000200147.pdf |access-date=9 July 2014|author=''[[Diário da República]]''|language=pt|format=pdf}}</ref> The population in 2011 was 4,019,<ref>[http://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xlang=en&xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&indOcorrCod=0005889&contexto=pi&selTab=tab0 Instituto Nacional de Estatística]</ref> in an area of 3.86&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>.<ref>[http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/nuts_nomenclature/documents/PT-LAU.xls Eurostat]</ref> It is situated in the northwest part of the Lagoa Municipality.
Parchal serves mainly as a bedroom community for [[Portimão]], and many of its residents travel daily across the Rio [[Arade]] to work in the neighboring municipality.
==History==
Parchal, on the east bank of the Rio [[Arade]], was separated from the [[freguesia]] of [[Estômbar]] on June 20, 1997. Its civil status was raised to that of a town on July 12, 2001.
The name “Parchal” appears to derive from “Parchel” or “Praxel”, the name of an old Franciscan monastery in the neighbouring village (to the east) of Calvário, in the [[freguesia]] of [[Estômbar]]. The word “praxel”, of Arabic origin, means a “flooded” or “marshy area”, just as occurred regularly in the area of Parchal in its early days, constantly invaded by the waters of the Rio [[Arade]]. Much earlier than its current designation, it was also known as “Aldeia dós Cucos,” a common reference to the Cuco family, one of the first to settle in Parchel.
Basic agriculture at first, and fishing and fish canning later, were the poles of attraction leading to the creation of the first nucleus of settlement across from [[Portimão]], and linked to it by the railway bridge and the “old” road bridge at the turn of the twentieth century. A major fishing boat harbour was created on the [[Arade]] below the bridges, and at the height of the canning industry in the middle of twentieth century, a number of canneries established themselves in the area. By the time the canning industry began to decline in the 1970s, Parchal had already become a consolidated urban area which strong ties to Portimão, where many of Parchal’s inhabitants worked in fishing, commerce or service industries.
==Sub-areas==
* Bela Vista
* Mexilhoeira da Carregação
* Pateiro
==Significant Sites==
*Igreja de Parchal, also known as the “Igreja de São Francisco de Assis”
*Fishing Port
*[http://www.pavilhao-arade.com/ Pavilhão do Arade]
==Economic Activity==
* Fishing
* Fish culture
* Gathering/sale of bivalves
* Civil construction
* Small industry
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080505093614/http://www.jf-parchal.pt/jf%2Dparchal/ Junta de Freguesia do Parchal]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080312051835/http://www.eb23-parchal.rcts.pt/ Escola E.B. 2/3 Rio Arade - Parchal]
*[http://www.municipiodelagoa.net/website/?Concelho:Freguesias:Parchal/ Câmara Municipal de Lagoa]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://www.pavilhao-arade.com/ Pavilhão do Arade]
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Villages in the Algarve]]
[[Category:Lagoa, Algarve]]