Localizada na Serra da Lousã, na sua vertente ocidental, a aldeia encontra-se numa das encostas, exposta a nordeste da profundamente escavada bacia hidrográfica da Ribeira de São João, o principal curso de água a drenar este flanco da serra.

Fugindo aos acentuados declives da serra, as populações serranas estabeleceram-se onde a terra lhes concedia um pouco mais de planura. No entanto, o Chiqueiro, situado mais acima, tira partido de uma zona de declives menos profundos.

Chiqueiro is included in the Site of Community Importance of the Lousã Mountain of the Natura 2000 Network. The hollies at the entrance to the village are joined by chestnut groves in the surrounding area, framing it with trees whose colours and shades vary with the rhythm of the seasons.

The forest avifauna and large mammals – red deer, roe deer, wild boar - are abundant and easily observable here. Here begin two small watercourses that join the Ribeira da Vergada which races downhill, passing alongside Talasnal on its way of join the Ribeira de São João.

A fixação da população nas aldeias da Serra da Lousã terá ocorrido a partir da segunda metade do séc. XVII, ou pelo início do séc. XVIII, altura em que a cultura de regadio trouxe novos produtos, como o milho grosso, a batata e o feijão. Até então, a ocupação seria apenas sazonal, na primavera e verão, nomeadamente com atividades pastoris.

Os documentos mais antigos que indiciam a sua ocupação são uma multa infligida pela Câmara da Lousã, em 1679, e o registo de propriedades foreiras ordenado por D. Pedro II, de 1687. No início do séc. XIX, apenas o Candal e a Cerdeira escaparam ao saque do exército napoleónico.

Já em 1885, a população das sete aldeias (as cinco Aldeias do Xisto, mais o Catarredor e o Vaqueirinho) corresponderia a 8,7% do total da freguesia da Lousã (5.340 habitantes). Provavelmente, o Chiqueiro, chegou a ser uma das mais importantes aldeias serranas. Teve pároco residente e na sua capela ocorreram sepultamentos.

A sua maior população residente ocorreu em 1940, com 45 habitantes. Desde 1991 que mantém dois habitantes.

Origin of the name
From chico – meaning pig – and eiró, meaning pig pen, pigsty or unclean place.
“…Spring, Spring,
Spring of the herdsmen,
Those poor herdsmen
Who sleep in those pigsties…”
(popular Transmontane song)

It follows that the village would have had a significant number of buildings and rustic structures for use as animal pens, probably belonging to or occupied by transhumant shepherds who came from the Serra da Estrela to pasture their livestock in the Lousã Mountain.

Burials in the chapel
At the end of the 1950s the inhabitants of Chiqueiro, tired of the inconvenience of the dilapidated wood floor placed directly on the soil, decided to replace the interior flooring of the chapel. During the work of removing the surface layer of soil, the village was in uproar: three graves were exposed, revealing a dozen unusual objects quite unlike the meagre belongings of the inhabitants (swords, earrings, necklaces and crowns). The authorities were called and the objects collected and taken away. To the inhabitants, they were evidence of the presence in Chiqueiro of Princess Peralta, after fleeing the Castle of Lousã and taking refuge here.

Casal Novo, Talasnal and Chiqueiro are very similar in architectural terms, with essentially two types of building. Firstly, there are those that normally served as animal pens, featuring just a ground floor and consisting of dry-laid schist stone and a thatched roof. 

Secondly, dwelling houses consisting of two floors, with the top floor accessible by a schist staircase, comprising a single room for accommodation, often with the bread oven in one corner, and the ground floor space for accommodation or animals as well. The walls were made of schist with clay and straw mortar, and the structure made of chestnut wood or pine.

Worth a visit:

• Chapel of Senhora da Guia
  This chapel was shared with the inhabitants of Casal Novo and Talasnal. It seems to have been the most important of the three chapels in the mountain villages as Chiqueiro had a resident priest. It is a rectangular schist building, rendered and painted on the corners with a sky blue strip. It contains a wooden statue of Our Lady of Guidance.
• Religious inscription
  On the facade of a house next to the chapel, a schist stone bears what remains of a small carved inscription. The letters “I H S” can be made out, corresponding to the trigram and symbol that was used by the Jesuits. It is likely that the inscription dates from the time when a resident priest lived in the village.

• July: Meeting of mountain people (Santo António da Neve)
• 2nd Saturday in September: Feast of Our Lady of Guidance

• Kid goat
• Chestnuts
• Cheese
• Honey

De Norte e de Sul
Na A1 sair para Coimbra. Tome a N17 (Estrada da Beira) e 14 km após a ponte sobre o Rio Mondego saia para a N236 no sentido da Lousã. Após 9 km chega à Lousã. Aí deverá tomar o caminho florestal de terra batida, a partir de Cacilhas em direcção às Aldeias do Xisto. Siga depois as indicações para a aldeia.

De Espanha
Na A23 sair na saída 18 na direcção Pombal/Sertã tomando o IC8. Após 64 km sair na direcção de Castanheira de Pera pela N236-1. Após 10 km, em Castanheira de Pera, seguir pela N236, subindo a Serra da Lousã até encontrar indicação das Aldeias do Xisto à esquerda através de um caminho florestal em terra batida.