the parish of Santa Maria Maior was established: its head was the vicar António Mourão. Socially, the population was dominated by artisans and "men of office", although subsistence agriculture was important. After an alluvial flood in 1803, that destroyed a great part of the Church of Nossa Senhora do Calhau, the parish seat moved to the Church of São Tiago (who had become the patron saint of Funchal). Finally, the ruins of the chapel were demolished in 1835, so that in its place (at the beginning of the Rua de Santa Maria Maior) was possible the construction of the Mercado da União (), which too was later removed in 1911. In 1851 the Jewish Cemetery of Funchal was built in Rua do Lazareto, which still exists today. In 1940 the Mercado dos Lavradores was opened. Santa Maria Maior too was influenced by the evolution of the economic cycles, primarily wheat, sugar and wine, which developed the island in successive decades. The administration of the parish remained under the ecclesiastical administration of the church, and through parish commissioners, who were later substituted by magistrates who were proposed by the municipal council. Geography It is located about 3 km east of the urban centre of Funchal, 4.5 km southwest Camacha and only 3 km west Caniço. The area is an urbanized section of the municipality of Funchal linked by ancillary roads to other sections of the island, as well as roadway that extends across the island. Until the mid-20th century, much of the interior of this parish was pasture and agricultural lands (central and western section), with denser forest in the northeast and northwest. The encroachment of urban housing, especially after the Carnation Revolution resulted in a transformation of this area into an ancillary bedroom community of Funchal. See also Quinta da Boa Vista orchid center References Parishes of Funchal