Forte de São Fernando (Santa Cruz)

A small eighteenth-century fort set above Santa Cruz beach, from which threats could be seen coming: the island was long a target for corsair raids, and such fortifications served to protect the population. Restored during the liberal wars by sergeant-major Paulo Dias de Almeida, it takes its name from an old chapel to Saint Ferdinand that stood here. Records show that by 1820 that small church no longer existed; the guardhouse then stood beside another chapel, to Saint Lazarus, which has also gone.