Póvoa de Santa Iria

PÓVOA DE SANTA IRIA

Municipality : Vila Franca de Xira
District : Lisboa

Official blazon

Escudo de vermelho, leão de ouro armado e linguado de azul, carregado de três faixas do mesmo, manilhadas de ouro, segurando uma roda dentada de prata; campanha ondada de prata e azul de seis peças. Coroa mural de cinco torres de prata. Listel branco, com os dizeres: " PÓVOA DE SANTA IRIA ", de negro.

Origin/meaning

The arms were granted on ?.

The golden lion, carrying three blue bars, each one perforated with six golden pieces (Valente - valiant), represents D. Vicente Afonso Valente, canon of the Lisbon cathedral, who established, by will dated from 1336, the Morgado da Póvoa. He appointed his brother as first administrator, Lourenço Afonso Valente, whose family thereafter was referred to as the Valentes of Póvoa. The perforated bars with six golden pieces symbolise the wounds suffered by an ancestor of the family, who died in the battle of Ourique.

The lion holds a cogwheel, a symbol of the industries which were founded in the village by the end of the 19^th century: milling, fertiliser, chemical, tanning, etc.

The waves in the base symbolise the Tejo (Tagus) river, thus symbolising the strong relation between the river and the people who had, as main activities, fisheries and salt mining transportation for several centuries.

The previous arms were granted on April 14, 1998 and only differ in the crown: