Cabril is situated at the bottom of some of the richest land in the concelho –rich not only for the fertility of its soil and abundance of water for irrigation, but also for the gold that was long ago deposited in the soils. Today the village consists of a small group of houses and a quinta by the river Ceira. There are many mysteries about the village, and legends associated with the gorge. During the Bronze Age Cabril was on the edge of a large lagoon. The Romans cut through the gorge at the bottom, draining the lagoon and creating the land that the quinta is built on. Above the village there is an old kiln that used to create the lime for lime-wash. It is probably about this area that the Legend of Candosa was created. (click here to read about the Legend of Candosa) There is much history to this area: there is a cave above the gorge said to be a neolithic place of habitation, and it is thought that the mounds of stones that can be found in this part of the valley may have been Bronze Age ‘crannogs’ (mounds on which wooden houses were constructed in the lagoon).

We talked with a woman in Cabril who told us about life in days gone by. She used to have to get up very early in the morning to prepare food and bake broa (corn-bread) and then work all day on the fields. When the time came for gathering the olive harvest she came home very late at night. The villagers met on Sunday for dancing, and the ‘Cego’ (blind man) from Sacões used to come to play music. Everybody tried to help each other, and the bonds between people in the village were strong. People who had no or little land of their own used to rent land from the rich landowners. Every year they had to bring them a large part of their harvest, and in bad years they sometimes worked all year for nothing as everything went to the owners.