about the place
In the municipality of Vale de Cambra, this union brings together Vila Chã, Codal and Vila Cova de Perrinho. Vila Chã has been the seat of the municipality since 1926, when the place of Gandra was renamed Vale de Cambra, and is home to the Santuário de Santo António, patron saint of the municipal festivities. Codal and Vila Cova de Perrinho offer parish churches, stone crosses, watermills and the Engenho do Linho (a traditional flax mill).
history
Vila Chã, Codal e Vila Cova de Perrinho have formed a single parish in the municipality of Vale de Cambra since the administrative reorganisation of 2013.<p>Vila Chã rose to prominence in 1926: by decree no. 12.976 of 31 December, the municipality of Macieira de Cambra was dissolved and that of Vale de Cambra was created, with its seat in Vila Chã. The settlement of Gandra, the parish seat, then took the name Vale de Cambra. The town was elevated to city status in 1993. The patron saint of Vila Chã is Nossa Senhora da Purificação, and its heritage includes the Santuário de Santo António (sanctuary), the chapels of Nossa Senhora das Dores and Santo António, the Casa de Refojos with its chapel, a wayside cross, and the former Minas do Pintor.<p>Codal has the parish church of São Tiago, the chapel of Nossa Senhora de Todas-as-Graças, roadside shrines, a Via Sacra, and the Monte Codal.<p>Vila Cova de Perrinho, whose patron saint is São João Baptista, celebrated on 24 June, was annexed to Codal in 1903 and regained its status as an independent parish in 1940. It retains its parish church, a wayside cross, the Casa dos Padres, the Engenho do Linho (a traditional flax mill), the Pisão dos Lagos (a fulling mill), and a group of water mills.
