Introduction

Constituted in theyear of 1636 by the Bishop D. Diniz de Melo, the freguesia of Coimbrão is located 23km norwest of the municipality of Leiria.
This freguesia is constituted by the following localities and places: Coimbrão Ervedeira, Praia do Pedrógão, Casal dos Secos, Fontainhas, Grou (part), Godinhos, Morganiças and Uchinhas.
This freguesia as particular characteristics, because, beside the natural richeness marked by the immense pine forest area, the Lagoon of Ervedeira and by the Atlantic ocean that bathes the sands of Pedrógão, it’s also possible to find some historical patrimony, as for example the Marco do Infantando (landmark of the Infant house), Church Tour, the Chapel of S. Tiago, and also the traditional architecture.

Origin of the places Toponymy

In short words the origin of names of the places explained by some of the inhabitants.
Coimbrão: the legend says that the origin of the name is due to a man that was from Coimbra, and had some lands in this area. He used to go to the church in Leiria, and the priest was allways asking if the Coimbrão was already there. If yes he would start the mess, otherwise he was waiting for this man, as we are talking about 25km distance (at the time was made on foot).
The other reason given is that this place appeared by a road leading to Coimbra, and therefore was known as the Coimbrão way.

Praia do Pedrógão: as in this beach there is a spot with big stones, people belive the name came out because of the existance of the stones, that in portuguese is Pedra.

Ervedeira: this is a place where it exists a small lagoon, and around this lagoon there was a large number of a specific species of tree: Ervedo.
Some people say that once the king went to this lagoon (this was an hunting place) and mentioned the fact that there were a big number of Ervedos. With the passing of times, the name changed until what is called today: Ervedeira.
Today is still possible to find a lot of this tree species in Ervedeira, for instance we can find some examples around the local church.

Marco do Infantado

The Marco do Infantado (Landmark of the Infant house), is an historic monument that is situated in the boundaries of Coimbrão, at the entrance of the Campos do Lis (Fields of Lis). This monument was the visible mark of the boundaries of the Casa do Infantado (House of the Infant), that was constituted in 1654 by D. João IV and this House had as main goal to assure the future of the Infants.

Legends

There are numerous stories and legends in the memory of the locals from Freguesia of Coimbrão that are transmitted throughout generations. Some of them relate to the names of the different communities within the Freguesia, others relate to historic events such as the Frenchnvasões Invasions and others can relate to superstitions.
Throughout times, some legends were lost from the collective memory of the local people, but others were eternalized in literature, such as in Aquilino Ribeiro’s novel “Batalha Sem Fim”.