Preservation of vernacular schist masonry farm walls

The vernacular masonry walls represent one of the most characteristic and important heritage of the Portuguese rural landscape. Built since immemorial times using empirical knowledge, by local populations and using locally available resources, they were used to establish limits, do define property boundaries, but also to shape and improve the landscape, making it more suitable for agricultural and forestall production. The Portuguese northwestern countryside along the Atlantic coastline, also called riverside (Saraiva 1994), see Figure 1, is characterized by large plains, valleys and smooth elevation transitions, but also by its dense occupation marked by a past strict social and economical hierarchy. Small and medium size farms and property passed to the territory the existent social organization, by the overwhelming presence of vernacular masonry walls in the landscape.