the creation of the parishes of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (July 30, 1568) and Nossa Senhora da Angustias (November 28, 1684) by the diocese of Angra. As two nuclei developed around Santa Cruz and Porto Pim, growth also extended around the older Matriz, where the Tower Clock now stands, and the public square, where Alameda Barão de Roches now exists. Public buildings were erected between Rua Visconde Leite Perry and Rua Arriage Nunes and eventually the town hall and court offices moved to the former Jesuit College, after the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal in 1758. In 1583—during the beginning of the Iberian Union—Spanish soldiers under the command of D. Pedro de Toledo landed in Pasteleiro on Faial's southwestern coast. After skirmishing at the doors of the fort, the Spanish executed Captain of Faial António Guedes de Sousa. Four years later George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland—while commanding a fleet of 13 British ships in the Azores Voyage of 1589—captured a Spanish ship and then plundered Faial's churches and convents, profaning them and destroying reliquaries and crucifixes. The British captured several artillery pieces and set fire to houses within the Fort of Santa Cruz. In 1597 a new British force under Walter Raleigh, second in command to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, sacked and burned religious buildings and churches in Horta and the neighboring parishes of Flamengos, Feteira, and Praia do Almoxarife. The constant threat of privateers and pirates forced the construction of several forts and lookouts. In 1643, Horta had about 2579 inhabitants and 610 homes. In 1675 D. Frei Lourenço, Bishop of Angra, authorized the renovation and re-ornamentation of the chapel of Santa Cruz. This work was completed in 1688. 18th and 19th centuries During the 18th and 19th centuries, Horta was a small town extending along the shoreline. It was peppered by various convents and churches, but little commerce and almost no industry. However, due to its central location in the Azores and Atlantic Ocean, it prospered as a stopover on important commercial routes between Europe and the Americas. For a time Horta was a center of commerce and travel, particularly as a gateway for Azorean orange exports and exports of wine from Pico Island, as well as an important stop for North American whalers, and later as a refueling port for coal-powered ships during their transatlantic passages. In 1804 John Bass Dabney (1766–1826), the United States