How did the current distribution of land in Fontelas come about? Can local historical records indicate any long-term trends with regard to the size of landholdings or the composition of the hamlet's social groups?

This appendix deals with two administrative records compiled in Mosteiro which provide information on the past structure of social groups in Fontelas. The first is an Electoral Census of Adult Males compiled in 1851, and the second a Parish Tax Listing compiled in 1892. Each listing affords a specific picture of the occupational structure of the community in a particular year, but one must turn to Portuguese social and economic history in order to connect these successive pictures with larger regional and national developments. The latter task is beyond the scope of this book. However, both of the images provided by the two sources are in themselves illuminating despite their limited field of view. Let us look briefly at the two sources in order to obtain an idea of the proportions of Fontelas' inhabitants who were proprietários, lawadores, and jornaleiros in former years.

Prior to the 1851 Census, one of the earliest sources enumerating the social groups present in Fontelas was a Census of Trás-os-Montes province compiled in 1796 (Ribeiro de Castro 1796). At that time, the hamlet had 26 lawadores and 10 jornaleiros: the term proprietário was nowhere used in the document. In addition, Fontelas also had a priest, a blacksmith, a tailor, a shepherd, 2 stone-masons, 4 servants (2 male and 2 female), and 5 persons ‘of no specific occupation’ (sem ocupação). A total of 40 households was listed, with 181 people (91 men and 90 women).