Loures

Loures (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈlowɾɨʃ]) is a city and a municipality in the central Portuguese Grande Lisboa Subregion. It is situated to the north of Lisbon. It was created on 26 July 1886 by a royal decree. The population in 2011 was 199,494, in an area of 167.24 km². It borders the municipalities of Odivelas, Sintra, Mafra, Arruda dos Vinhos, Vila Franca de Xira and Lisbon. The city itself had a population of 15,967 in 2001.

The municipality is basically divided in three areas: the rustic one, to the north (the parishes of Lousa, Fanhões, Bucelas, Santo Antão do Tojal and São Julião do Tojal), the urban one, to the south (Frielas, Loures and Santo António dos Cavaleiros) and the urban-industrial, to the east (Apelação, Bobadela, Camarate, Moscavide, Portela de Sacavém, Prior Velho, Sacavém, Santa Iria de Azóia, São João da Talha and Unhos).

In this eastern area, the ten local parishes claim to be independent from Loures, and form its own municipality set in the town of Sacavém. This struggle dates from the beginnings of the Portuguese Republic, and has a very strong support among the local population.

Loures (parish)

Loures is a civil parish in the municipality of Loures, Portugal. It is an urban parish, part of the city of Loures. The population in 2011 was 26,769, in an area of 32.82 km².

History

The parish of Loures was first mentioned in 1118, and again in 1191, along with the parishes of Unhose and Sacavém. From this administrative entity, the territories of the civil parish of Póvoa de Santo Adrião (known as Póvoa de Loures), during the middle of the 17th century, and Caneças in 1915 were cleaved from the territory. In 1989 the civil parish of Santo António dos Cavaleiros was de-annexed from Loures.

Geography

The civil parish of Loures, located in the extreme western part of the municipality, is bordered by the neighbouring civil parishes of Fanhões, Santo António dos Cavaleiros e Frielas, Lousa, Santo Antão e São Julião do Tojal and the municipalities of Mafra, Odivelas (the parish of Ramada e Caneças) and Sintra (Almargem do Bispo, Pêro Pinheiro e Montelavar).

It includes several agglomerations and localities dispersed beyond the main settlement; these include: A-dos-Calvos, A-dos-Cãos, Barro, Bolores, Botica, Fanqueiro, Fonte Santa, Guerreiros, Infantado, Lagariça, Loures, Mealhada, Migarrinhos, Moninhos, Montemor, Murteira, Pai Joanes, Palhais, Pinheiro de Loures, Ponte de Lousa (which is shared with the neighbouring parish of Lousa), Quinta Nova de São Roque, São Sebastião de Guerreiros, Sete Casas, Tojalinho and Torre Trotes.