of early colonization, since the forest and tuber vegetation would regulate waterflow, resulting in light continuously flowing streams throughout the year. From east to west, the following ravines are the primarily affluent in the parish: Ribeira do Pamplona, apart from delimiting the parish, it is also the frontier of Angra do Heroísmo; Ribeira de Lapa, one of the more intensely flowing watercourses; Ribeira da Luz; Ribeira de São Roque, alongside the parochial church (in the centre of the parish), and to its left the Ribeira das Lajinhas; Ribeira dos Gatos Architecture Religious For many years after settlement, small nuclei coalesced around the roadways parallel the coast dominated by chapels and hermitages, transforming into centre of the religious cults: the Hermitage of Santa Catarina of the Pamplona family (constructed in 1525) centre of the locality of Arrochela; the Hermitage of São Mateus situated in Outeiro de São Mateus and pilgrim church during the 16th century, a hermitage erected in 1530, by Margarida Valadão, daughter of João Valadão); the Hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Luz, situated in Achadas, along the margins of Ribeira da Luz (where today stands a Marian niche), that pertained to the Pereira family of Faial, who hand lands here; and the Hermitage of Mãe de Deus, in Folhadais, today the parochial Church of São Francisco Xavier of Raminho. Most of these hermitages have since been abandoned and disappeared from the landscape, although (in 1843), Jerónimo Emiliano de Andrade affirmed the existence of many of the hermitages. Today these religious structures have been classified as national patrimony: Church of São Roque (), the parochial single-nave church, dedicated to Saint Roch, was completed in the 15th century, and is located on an elevated terrain occupied along with the parochial school, Museu Etnográfico dos Altares, with an important collection of instruments associated with agriculture and traditional Azorean activities (including exhibition of flora, fauna and ecologia of Terceira). Império of the Holy Spirit of Altares (), dating to the early 20th century, the single-room rectangular building is used the festivals associated the Cult of the Holy Spirit held annually by the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit; it is a highly decorated facade with three gothic-style windows and door, and triangular frontispiece, but also includes annex when the events of the festivals extends. References Freguesias of Angra do Heroísmo