Ferrol

Ferrol (sometimes referred to as El Ferrol) is a Spanish city and municipality located in the north of the province of La Coruña, in Galicia. It is the capital of the region that bears his name and head of the homonymous judicial district.

The municipality, located on a peninsula, sits towards the Ferrol estuary, where the city is located. The municipal term also has an outstanding coastline open to the Atlantic Ocean in its rural area, where there are beaches frequented by surfers and windsurfers. By land it limits only with the municipality of Narón.

With a population of 64,158 inhabitants (INE 2022), it is the third most populous municipality in the province of La Coruña and the seventh in Galicia. The metropolitan area of Ferrol, known as Ferrolterra, is the third most populous urban concentration in Galicia, bringing together the regions of Ferrol, Eume and Ortegal, with a population of close to 200,000 inhabitants. The conurbation formed by the city of Ferrol and neighboring Narón already exceeds 100,000 inhabitants.

It is a city traditionally oriented towards maritime activities and constitutes one of the main industrial poles of Galicia. It has a historic fishing and commercial port, civilian and military shipyards, Navy facilities, and tourist beaches.

Toponymy

With almost ten centuries of history, the place name «Ferrol» is recorded for the first time in an ecclesiastical document from the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela dated March 30, 1087, in which the «terms de sancto Iuliano de Ferrol", which is the first reference not only to the place but also to a temple, possibly pre-Romanesque or Romanesque, dedicated to the patron saint of the city to this day (San Julián/San Xiao). A few more years Later, in 1111, a new document, this time alluding to the then nearby monastery of San Salvador de Pedroso, mentioned, still in Latin, a secular entity, the Villa de Ferrol et suos homines et Villam de Canito.

From then on, the name "Ferrol" will be the term used to refer to the medieval town of Ferrol, as shown in the documentation alluding to mayors of the town: "in Ferrol, alcaides: Vemudo Pelagii et Roderico Gundisalui” (1212), “alcaides in Ferrol: Petro Martinit et Ueremudo Pelagii” (1218), “in Ferrol alcaydes: Roderico Gundisaluit et Ueremudo Pelagii» (1222).

Throughout the Middle Ages, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, local documents, all of them written in Galician (Galician-Portuguese) used the Ferrol form as reflected in the extensive documentation: «Johan Paaez noteyro iurado do concelo de Ferrol” (1261), “Reçemill, qaes herdades et chantados son da frigesia de San Giao de Ferrol” (read San Xiao de Ferrol) (1314), «frigesía de San Giao de Ferrol de Nos et do dito moesteýro» (1346), «dos conçellos de Pontedeume et Ferrol et Vila Alva» (1416), « Enna vyla de Ferrol, four days from the month of January” (1490) and still in 1506 “María Lopes seys reales; owe me María Niansa de Ferrol nove”, among other documents.

Mapping of the Description of the King of Galizia made in 1603 by Fernando de Ojea where you can still read Ferrol

The documents issued from the Castilian court (all of them in the Castilian language) also show the use of the name Ferrol throughout the Middle Ages. Thus, King Ferdinand III of Castilla will address the Ferrol authorities as the "Council of Ferrol" (1248), Alfonso X of Castilla will also allude to the port of Ferrol (1268), Enrique II of Trastámara will mention it in 1371 as "place of Ferrol" and still in 1476, a document issued by the Catholic Monarchs calls it "Villa de Ferrol".

Although in Galician the name of the municipality retained its original name («Ferrol»), in Spanish from the XVIIth century hesitations begin to appear occasionally, sometimes keeping the name as «Ferrol» and other times adding the article «el», El Ferrol, a novel phenomenon, is especially observed in Andalusian authors and those linked to the Court in Madrid, as well as by For example, in the romance «Despuntado he mil agujas» by Luis de Góngora, or in the work Description of Spain and the coasts and ports of its kingdoms (1634) by the royal cartographer of Portuguese origin Pedro Texeira (at the service of King Philip IV of Spain).

Municipal sewage cap referring to the official denomination from 1938 until 1982 «El Ferrol del Caudillo» (Photo 2013)

However, there will also be many other authors and cartographers in the Spanish language who will continue to maintain the name of Ferrol, thus Fernando Ojea in his Description of the Kingdom of Galicia (1603) spells the name as Ferrol. Still in the year 1733, a Royal Decree signed by King Felipe V alluded to "the towns of Ferrol and La Graña".

Already in the middle of the XVIII century, the official documentation written in Spanish will mostly use the new term «El Ferrol » until September 30, 1938, when an Order of the Ministry of the Interior at the request of its holder Ramón Serrano Súñer (Francisco Franco's brother-in-law), changed the name to "El Ferrol del Caudillo", thus linking the city to the then new dictator from the municipality of Ferrol.

After the death of Francisco Franco in November 1975, seven years later, on December 28, 1982, the Ferrol city council approved a motion to recover the previous name, "El Ferrol", without "del Caudillo". Finally, on October 5, 1984, the official name of the municipality recovered the original name in Galician, and also in Spanish, of "Ferrol", currently the only official name of the city.

The use in Spanish of the article in the forms «El Ferrol», with a capital letter, or «el Ferrol», in lower case, is reflected in the Dictionary of the Spanish language and in the Dictionary of Spanish place names and their names by Pancracio Celdrán.

About the etymology or meaning of the name «Ferrol», various hypotheses have been postulated over the last three hundred years. For some, the name would be endorsed by the legend of a Breton saint named San Ferreol, who would have arrived on a ship to Ferrol lands among a chorus of seven sirens. The most probable hypotheses consider that the origin of this term is found in early medieval place names, being the association of two words that can mean either "near port" or "pier on pilasters". Another interpretation is that of the Latin villa Ferreoli ("medieval villa belonging to Ferreolus").

Another tradition believes that «Ferrol» comes from «farol», alluding to the heraldic figure that appears on the city's coat of arms (however, according to specialists, the origin of the Ferrol's coat of arms dates back only to the 18th century, and there are also various variants used over time, without the official heraldic composition having been established, according to the applicable legislation since the 1990s).

Geography

The municipality of Ferrol is located in the northwest of the province of La Coruña, belonging to Galicia, located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Its limits are given by the Atlantic coast to the west, the municipality of Narón to the north and east, and the Ferrol estuary to the south.

Northwest: Atlantic Ocean	North: Atlantic Ocean	Northeast: Naro
West: Atlantic Ocean		This: Naro
Southwest: Ría de Ferrol	South: Ría de Ferrol	Sureste: Ría de Ferrol

Its location, in the northern part of a wide inlet, facing the Atlantic Ocean, means that the city enjoys an oceanic climate, with mild temperatures throughout the year and abundant rainfall.

The municipality offers a permanent succession of contrasts: medieval layouts with narrow streets and houses with galleries in front of imposing military constructions, along with beaches open to the ocean between fortified castles (Castillo de San Felipe and Castillo de La Palma) that dominate the estuary.

The city is structured in its urban area in 11 districts: Ferrol Vello, Canido, Caranza (with the neighborhoods of Bazán, As Telleiras, Polígono de Caranza and O Montón), San Pablo-Catabois (with the neighborhoods of San Pablo, Catabois de Abaixo, Campo de Chao and Catabois de Arriba), Ensanche A (with the neighborhoods of San Pedro Apóstol and O Inferniño), Recimil, Ensanche B (popularly known as Ultramar), Santa Mariña do Vilar (with the neighborhoods of Porta de Neira, Casal dos Ovos, O Montiño, O Casquido, O Sino, Cardosas, O Vilar and O Loureiro), Esteiro (with the neighborhoods of Esteiro Vello, Polígono de Esteiro, University Campus, San Amaro and Pardo Bajo), San Xoán Filgueira-Bertón (with the neighborhoods of Beleicón, O Espiño, O Bertón, Filgueira, O Souto, Fajardo and Ponte das Cabras) and A Magdalena or Centro. A part of the A Gándara industrial and commercial estate is also part of the urban area of the city.^{[citation required]}

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  Entrance of the ria and the outer port

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  Mugardos and Ferrol

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  Port of aircraft Prince of Asturias, built in Ferrol

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  View of the river and the shipyards

Climate

From the point of view of the climate, Ferrol has an oceanic climate, with abundant rains in autumn and winter and not very sunny summers, highlighting the typical coastal fogs in summer.

Average climatic parameters of Monteventoso Observatory
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	11.3	11.0	13.3	14.1	16.1	18.9	20.6	20.8	19.6	17.5	13.7	11.7	15.7
Average temperature (°C)	9.3	8.8	10.7	11.4	13.3	16.0	17.8	18.1	17.1	15.2	11.7	9.8	13.3
Temp. medium (°C)	7.2	6.6	8.1	8.7	10.6	13.2	15.0	15.4	14.7	13.0	9.6	7.8	10.8
Total precipitation (mm)	115	93	113	62	78	61	26	45	74	86	102.	115	970
Source: Ferrol.gal

History

Prehistory and Antiquity

The castro of Santa Comba is a typical galaxy village of the Iron Age. They've been there until the medievo.

The territory of Ferrol preserves numerous archaeological sites that testify to the long occupation that these lands have had throughout history.^{[citation required]} The oldest remains are They are located in the hills near Brión, in what is known as Monte da Chá de Brión, and Espadañido (Esmelle), where numerous megalithic burial mounds or mámoas ascribed to the Neolithic period are located, between the years 5000 and 2500 BC. c.

From the traditional and intense maritime contact between the inhabitants of the coasts of present-day Galicia, Ireland, western France and Great Britain, a culture known as the Atlantic Late Bronze Age arose. It is at this time, around 1500 a. C., when the first Chalcolithic towns were created and the first metals (copper) began to be used and the stone representations known as petroglyphs appeared. In the vicinity of Ferrol, on Mount Chamorro, the most notable groups of petroglyphs from this period are recorded.

Tardorromane epigraphic plaque (IV-V d.C.) found in Noville, Mugardos, in the Ferrol River

The Iron Age, around 900-800 BC. C., opens with the use of iron, a more resistant metal that represents a step forward in primitive technology. The most characteristic type of site from this period is the fortified town known as castro, some of whose best vestiges dot the territory of Ferrol. More than a dozen of them are still visible, with a great variety of typologies; coastal or peninsular such as the forts of Lobadiz and Santa Comba, forts located on top of hills such as those of Tralocastro, Croa de Fontá or Santa Mariña and plain forts such as those of Leixa or Gafos.

Thanks to the descriptions of Greco-Latin historians such as Pomponius Mela, Strabo or Pliny, we know that these fortifications belonged to the group of Celtic peoples –or at least Celtic-speaking ones– known as Galicians. It is more difficult, however, to determine the exact name of the Galician town that inhabited the castros of Ferrol and its region. While some authors attribute the settlement of these lands to the Artabros – the name Magnus Portus Artabroum (“great port of the Artabros”) is known, with which Pomponio Mela baptized a port enclave in the Rías Altas Galician– other researchers, especially in recent years, have done so in favor of the trasancos, a name that in addition to being registered at the end of the century VI, would be supported by the appearance of an inscription near the fort of Santa Comba that would relate this group to the cult of a Galician deity such as Reve/Reue.

These populations belonged definitively to the Roman Empire since Octavio Augusto imposed himself militarily around 19 BC. C.. Like most of the Galician forts, those on Ferrol lands continued to be inhabited, although they gradually disappeared in favor of a new type of Roman exploitation, the villae. Forming part of the Roman province of Gallaecia, the villae that were established at the foot of the Ferrol estuary between the 3rd and 6th centuries specialized in fish and canning exports. Examples of this are the archaeological sites of the town of Noville (Mugardos) and Cariño (Ferrol), the first a Late Roman villa a mare and the second a factory from the imperial period.

High Middle Ages

The Monastery of San Martín de Jubia, in the vicinity of Ferrol, is the oldest monastic center in its region. Concerning him, it is the first written document on Ferrol as Iuliano Sanctification of Ferrol

The year 411 marks the end of Roman domination in Galician lands. Arriving from Gaul, the Suevi – a Germanic people originally from Central Europe – assumed the government of Gallaecia, turning it into a kingdom whose first monarch was Hermeric (409-438). It will be precisely in this period of the Swabian monarchy when fleeing from the invasions of Jutes and Saxons that devastated the island of Britannia, groups of Britons settled in the north of Galicia leaving their mark in the vicinity of Ferrol, in place names such as " Bertoña" and perhaps "O Bertón" as the English historian Simon Young maintains. The scope of this British (Celtic-Roman) settlement was already evident at the end of the century VI as can be seen from the Divisio Theodomiri («Theodomir's Division»), a document drawn up around the year 569 at the court of the Swabian king Theodomiri, who depicts the ecclesiastical division of the dioceses and parishes of the Galliciense Regnum, and in which a mention appears for the first time of a British bishop named Mailoc, head of the Dioecesis Britoniensis («Diocese of the Bretones») in Galicia, origin and precedent of the current diocese of Mondoñedo-Fer role.

Likewise, the Divisio Theodomiri is the oldest written document where the name of Trasancos is mentioned, a territory to which during the Middle and Modern Ages the current municipality of Ferrol and its surroundings.

After the documentary vacuum of the VII and VIII about the lands that today make up this municipality, in a document from the year 868 preserved in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, written references reappear to the ancient territory of Trasancos as well as places and churches recognizable by name even today in Ferrol's geography, such as Sancta Maria in Brion ("Santa María de Brión") or Sancta Maria de Carantra ("Santa María de Caranza") among others.

However, it was not until the year 1087 that the first written reference to a town or place with the name “Ferrol” appeared, specifically a document signed on March 30 of that year making a donation to the nearby monastery of San Martín de Jubia, and in those that are mentioned among its terms, those "terminis quomodo uenit per terminos de sancto Iuliano de Ferrol" ("San Julián de Ferrol"). At that time a small coastal town, already with a temple dedicated to San Julián, medieval El Ferrol was located on what is now known as the "Old Ferrol neighbourhood".

Late Middle Ages

Medieval miniature of Alfonso IX de León (rex Legionensium et Gallecie) under whose reign (1188-1230) Ferrol began to have mayors

Late 11th century and early <span style="font-variant:small-caps;text" century XII Like the rest of the territory of Trasancos, as well as a large part of western Galicia, the enclave of Sancto Iuliano de Ferrol was part of the vast lordship of the House of Traba, which in those centuries became the hegemonic lineage in Galicia and one of the most powerful in the entire Iberian Peninsula. Its most outstanding owner was Pedro Froilaz, Count of Trava, famous not only for expelling Alfonso I of Aragon and his armies from Galician lands, but for being protector and tutor of Alfonso VII of León, whom he managed to crown as "king of Galicia". » in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela on September 17, 1111.

It will be precisely in that year when another great local aristocrat, Munia Froilaz, sister of the then Count of Traba, grants a large part of her properties in Trasancos to the nearby monastery of San Salvador de Pedroso, highlighting «medietatem de mea Villa de Ferrol et suos homines et Villam de Canito et suos homines et gains", which is the first reference to a "village of Ferrol", although the meaning of the term in the Middle Ages possibly alludes to a prehistoric nucleus. -urban around the Curuxeiras wharf.

Already under the reign of Alfonso IX of León (1188-1230), great promoter of Galician cities such as La Guardia (1200), La Coruña (1208), Bayona (1209) or Betanzos (1219) among others, and at Like his father and grandfather, educated in Galicia by the Casa de Traba, the then town of Ferrol will acquire its first municipal organization. The first mention of mayors from Ferrol is found in a document from the year 1212, written in the Monastery of Santa María de Sobrado, as follows: «in Ferrol, alcaides: Vemudo Pelagii et Roderico Gundisalvi». These first council authorities, and those that succeed them, show that at least since the reign of this Galician-Leonese monarch, Ferrol becomes a royal town, that is, free from paying taxes to feudal nobles, promoting This forms a flourishing of trade and the development of a local bourgeoisie.

Sepulchre of Fernán Pérez de Andrade. For his support in the war against Pedro I, he received in 1371 the dominion of the villas of Ferrol and Puentedeume from the hands of Enrique de Trastámara

Two years after the death of Alfonso IX de León in Sarria (September 1230), Ferdinand III of Castile managed to impose his domain in Galicia definitively, passing the town of Ferrol and the rest of Galician territory into the hands of the Crown from Castile. Already in the year 1248, the Castilian king demanded an extraordinary economic contribution from the wealthiest towns in the kingdom of Galicia, among which was already Ferrol. Preserving its status as a royal town, the thriving economic activity of Ferrol turned its estuary into a dynamic fishing and commercial crossroads already in the XIVth century, enjoying one of the first customs of the kingdom of Galicia (1268).

In the XIV century a local bourgeoisie was formed headed by noble families such as the Mandiá, Lago, Piñeiro, Tenreiro, Ares or Esquío that carried out an intense commercial and fishing activity as well as cultural activity whose best exponent is perhaps Fernando Esquío, nobleman and local poet who cultivated the Galician-Portuguese lyric from these northern lands. Villa assez fort ("quite strong") according to medieval chronicler Jean Froissart, the notoriety of Ferrol as a geopolitical enclave would lead its walls to witness in 1387 the victory of the Galician supporters of the House of Burgundy and of his Anglo-Portuguese allies on the armies favorable to Juan I of Castile in what represented one of the most relevant episodes of the Hundred Years' War on peninsular soil.

The Moeche Castle, near Ferrol, was severely attacked during the Irmandiñas Revolts until almost their total destruction

The victory of Enrique de Trastámara over Pedro I in 1369 would bring important consequences and changes for the kingdom of Galicia and especially for the town of Ferrol. Fernán Pérez de Andrade, one of the most powerful aristocrats in the area, received in 1371 as a reward for his military support the lordship of the towns of Ferrol and Puentedeume from the new Castilian king. Violated the privileges given by Alfonso IX of León, the town of Ferrol thus lost its status as a royal town, becoming governed by the counts of Andrade, new masters of the town.

The new situation did not please the different estates of the town, which perceived this as a harsh insult and attack on their liberties. Due to the abuses and excesses of Nuño Freire de Andrade over his vassals, in Ferrol broke out in 1431 what would go down in history as one of the first anti-seigneurial revolts in the West and which, led among others by the higaldo Roi Xordo, tried to end the power of the House of Andrade; although without success, it was known as the Irmandade Fusquenlla. Parallel to the revolt, a delegation from Ferrol headed by Pedro Padrón, then attorney for the town of Ferrol, crossed the kingdom of Galicia to Zamora in January 1432 to legally assert the historical rights of Ferrol; The refusal of King Juan II of Castile to even receive the delegation from Villa, provoked the famous written protest of the Ferrol attorney at the gates of the royal palace in Zamora.

At the end of the convulsive XV century and forced by the extension of the Irmandiña Revolt on May 15, 1467, the king Enrique IV of Castilla finally restored the royal rights of Ferrol through a royal privilege. Despite everything, its duration was short; A few years before definitively submitting the kingdom of Galicia to their authority, the Catholic Monarchs annulled said privilege and granted the government of the town of Ferrol back to the House of Andrade. The protests and claims of the residents of the town for the royalties to be restored would continue until 1498, although without success.

Modern Age

Cover of the Description of the King of Galizia and of the remarkable things of the written in 1550 by Juan de Molina

After the death of Isabella I of Castile in 1504 and the inability to govern of her daughter Juana la Loca, the government of the Crown of Castile and therefore also of the kingdom of Galicia, passed to Carlos de Gante, better known for being the future emperor Carlos V. Although it is true that the connection of this monarch with Galicia and particularly with Ferrol was scarce, especially if we compare it with Central European or Castilian lands -because he barely traveled to Galician lands once in his life -, their armies were also nourished by men-at-arms from the town of Ferrol. Undoubtedly the most famous of all of them was Alonso Pita da Veiga (1480-1525), who during the battle of Pavia (Italy, 1525) took King Francisco I of France prisoner, for which reason he received the privilege of arms in perpetuity for he and his descendants.

A few years later, in 1550, the Andalusian Juan de Molina wrote about Ferrol in his Description of the Kingdom of Galicia and the notable things of it that «the port of Ferrol is regarded as one of the safest in the world", highlighting its special aptitude for docking ships, a description that contrasts with the later decades of the XVI century that marked a period of decline for the town. A port dedicated to trade with England, France and the Netherlands, the wars that Emperor Charles V waged against France and especially the conflict that King Philip II of Spain waged against England, not only cut off the commercial flow of Ferrol and Galicia in general with the other Atlantic ports, but instead turned Ferrol into an enclave of uncontrolled supply of wood, food and men for the royal armies.

The Fort of San Felipe, so called in honor of Felipe II of Spain, whose construction, begun in 1577, was carried out in a particularly painful way for the then Ferrolean villa

This situation was strongly denounced by Rodrigo Montero, the then rector and clergyman of Fort San Felipe, who in 1603 described the trail of destruction left by the armies of Philip II of Spain as follows:

«...in such a period of time to this part the soldiers and warmen who went and drank in the said armed forces inflict very great damage on the neighbors of the village of Ferrol as hes who took the houses where they lived and threw them out of the wings and told them to go looking for other houses elsewhere and the said soldiers and people of war were left by force in them burning the woods and woods [...]»

In addition to the looting of the town –which came to house in 1588 part of the ships that made up the so-called Invincible Armada–, the construction in 1577 of the forts of San Felipe (named in honor of Felipe II), La Palma and San Martín, -joined by a thick chain that in the event of a siege prevented the passage of hostile ships- was also a traumatic moment for the inhabitants of Ferrol because, as the rector of the fort himself recalled, the royal armies:

«They forcefully took the ships to the neighbors of the village of Ferrol and encouraged their masters to go with them for the services of the said armed reals, using them to give care to the ships that were there and to pass the people of war and soldiers from one to another and to carry the materials and the most necessary for them and for the building of the strong ones that are there to throw away»

The looting and destruction of the town at the hands of the Royal Armed Forces of Philip II of Spain would mean that the town of Ferrol, previously inhabited by more than 250 residents (that is, heads of families) "all rich and with landholdings", would be It was reduced in 1603 to no more than 100 residents "very poor and needy".

In 1726 Felipe V ordered the installation of the great Shipyards of Northern Spain in the Ferrol estuary, in the places of A Graña and Ferrol. In 1749 Fernando VI arranged for the installation of the shipyards in Esteiro and for Ferrol to be the capital of the Maritime Department. On August 25, 1800, an attempt was made to seize Ferrol and destroy the shipyards by an English army with more than a hundred ships and 15,000 men, commanded by Admiral John Borlase Warren. After the English defeat, Napoleon celebrated it with the phrase: "for the brave Ferrolans" ^{[citation required]}. In 1809 the French occupation took place, but it only lasted a month.

Contemporary Age

Plano of the city of Ferrol of 1859

Door of the Shipyard in front of the painting of EsteiroXVIII)

The alliance with Great Britain during the War of Independence precipitated the failure of the city's economy and, during the reign of Ferdinand VII, Ferrol became a city in decline, losing its title of capital. However, new activities flourished, during the administration of the Marqués de Molina, Minister of Naval Affairs in the mid-XIX century.

Isabel II grants the title of «city», in 1858, to the then «Villa de Ferrol». The request for this title came from the municipal corporation itself and the Board of Trade, several years before.

In Ferrol the first steamship in Spain was launched in 1858; in 1881, the first ship with an iron hull, and in 1912 Alfonso XIII attended the first battleship (the España).

In 1868, Ferrol was the first Galician town to support the uprising of the army anchored in Cádiz. This is the revolution known as "La Gloriosa". In the revolutionary junta constituted from those moments, the well-known freemason from Ferrol Francisco Suárez García, who would be mayor of the city in 1869, will play a decisive role.

The outbreak of the Civil War (1936-1939) meant that the shipyards, workshops, foundries and docks of Ferrol were taken under the control of the State and nationalized in 1945 under the name of Bazán, later renamed IZAR and since January 2005 as Navantia.

During the war, and since the head of state that emerged from the conflict, Francisco Franco, was a native of the municipality, in 1938 the name of the municipality was changed to "El Ferrol del Caudillo", name that changed to "Ferrol" in 1984.

The end of the dictatorship and the arrival of democracy in 1978 did not help improve their economic situation. From 1982 until the late 1990s the city has faced numerous problems due to the decline of the shipping sector. The beginning of the new millennium, however, has generally been a time of relative economic expansion and prosperity. The arrival of the Autopista del Atlántico and the construction of the outer port of Ferrol have given an important boost to the city and its entire region.

Demographics

As of January 1, 2022, Ferrol had 64,158 inhabitants (the seventh city in Galicia and the oldest). Adding all the towns in the region to the capital, the number of inhabitants is about 154,000.

Graph of Ferrol's demographic evolution between 1857 and 2022

Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute - Graphical development by Wikipedia.

Population pyramid of Ferrol in 2017. (Source: INE population censuses [2]).)

Architecture and urbanism

From a medieval town to an Illustrated city

Plano de la ciudad de Ferrol, de su enclosure fortificado y de los Arsenales de Marina, de 1858

Although no vestige remains of Ferrol's primitive physiognomy, the extent of its urban fabric is known, as well as its shape and layout of its road network from the 16th century XVIII, thanks to the plan of Ferrol by the engineer Francisco Montaigú, from 1732. (Plan of the Villa de Ferrol and the project that has been formed for an Arsenal de Marina in the month of March 1732. Preserved in the A.Z.M.C.)

This plan shows Ferrol as a tiny agricultural and fishing hamlet, triangular in shape, with a port and a typically medieval urban fabric and a more irregular area to the east, which would correspond to the medieval settlements of Ferrol in different periods throughout throughout the XIII century. The urban and architectural morphology of current Ferrol emerges with the shipyards and the enormous Arsenal built during the Enlightenment in the reign of the first Bourbons, especially Ferdinand VI and Carlos III, in which the engineers Jorge Juan, Julián Sanchez Bort and Francisco Llobet. The result of the significant economic spending and political strategies was the growth of a new urban space, which marginalized Ferrol Viejo, with the creation of a main neighborhood, representative of the new city, La Magdalena, inhabited by a population linked to the military establishment, and another, the neighborhood of Esteiro, inhabited by workers linked to shipbuilding, while the hamlets of Canido and La Graña were losing importance. Pascual Madoz described Ferrol in his Geographical-statistical-historical dictionary of Spain and its overseas possessions, from 1847:

«This villa is divided into three pieces called Old Ferrol, New Town or Center and Estherus: the first occupies the West part, and it is the primitive population that was walled, and its houses built with the disorder of alignment and inequality of apples that is usually observed in the villages of its time. Today they present some uniformity by which they are given to the new-floor buildings and to those who are rebuilt or made greater repairs. The Esteiro is in the eastern part and its streets, although not all the same, are aligned and manifest to be a modern population, as it is indeed, because it was founded in the last century when the building stands were made there, shortly before beginning to build the arsenal. The new population, known for the new Ferrol or the Magdalena, is almost contemporary work of the arsenal, occupies a parallelogram of 300,000 square rods and the buildings form 7 longitudinal streets and 9 of crossing some and 10 rods wide, all subject to rigorous alignment; the apples are entirely equal and have 100 rods long over 40 wide; the 3 streets of the center run from E. to O.»

The neighborhood of La Magdalena, which began to be built in 1761, was declared a historic-artistic complex in 1983.

Widening

The period from 1900 to 1936 is characterized by the demolition of the 18th century wall. Ferrol extends its urban fabric by means of extensions and rearranges the roads, accesses and infrastructures, then very deficient. The city council would establish municipal ordinances to regulate the use and urban structure. In 1900, the position of municipal architect was created to exercise municipal control over the urban and architectural development of the city, which Nicolás Pérez de Agreda y Álvarez-Pol would perform for the first time. The figure of Rodolfo Ucha Piñeiro stands out, who was Municipal Architect of Ferrol from 1909 to 1936, and designed many of his emblematic buildings. He was succeeded by Nemesio López Rodríguez.

Eclectic architecture, historicism and modernism

Casa Pereira, modernist building projected in 1912 by the architect Rodolfo Ucha on Dolores 64 street, La Magdalena neighborhood.

Between 1900 and 1920, eclectic and historicist architecture was practiced in Ferrol, associated with the aesthetic tastes of society and that of the architects themselves who, however, depended in their activity on the not always innovative requirements of those who commissioned the projects. Even so, the evolution towards new aesthetic currents started mainly from private homes, many of them in the modernist style. Around the year 1930, Ferrol showed a group of buildings with a modern air, up to date with the new trends that prevailed in Europe. From this long period are some of the works of the architects Manuel Riva de Soto, Nicolás Pérez de Ágreda and Álvarez Pol, Pedro R. Marino Ortega, Julio Galán Carvajal (introducer of Modernism in Ferrol with his Tuberculosis Clinic project) and Rodolfo Ucha Piñeiro.

Rationalism and Art Deco

The founding of GATEPAC in 1930 by a group of Spanish architects whose purpose was to promote rationalist architecture, introduced interest in Spain for the avant-garde of architecture that came from Europe. Examples were given in Ferrol, such as a design projected by Santiago Rey Pedreira. Although structurally or conceptually rationalism did not achieve great results, formal examples can be found. In fact, a combination of styles is produced that recovers the cosmopolitan versus the local in a kind of modern eclecticism that mixes rationalism with art deco, an aesthetic that recovers decorativeness and associates it with the functional within an avant-garde criterion. In Ferrol they developed the Art Deco language associated with rationalism Peregrín Estellés, Antonio Tenreiro and also Rodolfo Ucha, always attentive to new currents.

Back to academicism

Between 1940 and 1959, the period of the Spanish post-war period in which the autarkic model was developed, the constructions of Ferrol hardly underwent changes with respect to the pre-war situation, apparently maintaining similar levels of architectural quality. produces an urban involution motivated by the political use of power in building activity, especially in public buildings, which acquire an aesthetic similar to the ideological purposes of the political regime, much more academic, against modern currents, associated to progressivism. Private initiative architectures also manifested these same trends, although in many cases degraded by the permissiveness of the Administration that favored speculation.

New urbanism

Blocks of the Caranza Polígono in Ferrol on Calle Mayor Quintanilla. Secondly, painted in pink, the L10 block of the "Unity 2" (1970)

With the establishment of the capital of the maritime department of Northern Spain in Ferrol, whose naval activity was carried out until the middle of the XVIII century, first in A Graña and then in the Arsenal and on the banks of the Caranza cove, where the Royal Shipyard is located, the growth of a new settlement is generated to accommodate the avalanche of workers, which will become the first eighteenth-century neighborhood of Ferrol: Esteiro.

The construction of the Arsenal de Marina brought with it the birth of a new city, with a layout in accordance with the regulations and models prevailing at the time. Nuevo Ferrol would be created from 1761 with Carlos III, between Esteiro and Ferrol Viejo, in an uncultivated area, with some slope, which descended from the village of Canido to the Arsenal. After numerous projects by Francisco Montaigú, de Croix, Francisco Llobet, Sánchez Bort and Jorge Juan mainly, the construction of La Magdalena was established, the new Illustrated City with an orthogonal layout and representative houses of the bourgeoisie, symbol of the “new Bourbon order”..

Throughout the 19th century and mid-century XX changes followed one another that modeled the physiognomy of Ferrol. In the years prior to the Civil War, population growth was notable and in 1929 the City Council called a competition for the new Ferrol Urbanization Plan, the expansion, in which García Mercadal from GATEPAC participated. and Santiago Rey Pedreira, who would win it, providing references to the most advanced European urban culture. The War paralyzed the plan, which was resumed in 1945 with significant cuts. This is how the Recimil neighborhood would be born, overdensified and limited in its original hygienist aspirations.

Social housing

It is necessary to highlight the importance of social housing in Ferrol, which began in 1945 with the creation of the aforementioned Recimil neighborhood. The developed project dates from a contest of ideas called by the Ferrol Town Hall in the twenties of the XX century, awarded to the architect Santiago Rey Pedreira. It was part of a more ambitious plan that was never fully executed. Its construction responds to the trends marked by similar constructions carried out both in Europe and in America, aimed at solving the problem of lack of housing in areas of rapid industrial growth. It is the first project (1945) of public promotion of Francoism conceived, Furthermore, as a set of self-sufficient nuclei that had their own infrastructures such as a school, market and church. It housed a total of 1,012 homes spread over 141 buildings, constituting the most notable urban landmark in Ferrol in the XX century.

In the 1950s, the urbanization of Caranza began, promoted on municipal land by the Bazán National Company of Military Naval Constructions. During the development period of the early sixties and late seventies of the XX century, promoted by the Obra Sindical del Hogar (OSH), the southern extension of the new Caranza neighborhood would be executed to house the workers of the Ferrolan shipyards and part of the military population, building blocks of high-rise and high-density free-standing housing, following models of the modern movement. the buildings designed by Antonio Vallejo Acevedo and Gerardo Calviño called "Unit 2". Unfortunately, despite its recognized singularity and the interest of its innovative constructive proposal, over time the complex has manifested functional problems and some structural pathologies that have forced various corrective interventions.

Since the last third of the XX century, Ferrol has undergone disorderly urban development following the route of the main access roads, such as the Castilla highway, transferring its population to neighboring municipalities such as Narón, while La Magdalena, as a traditional urban center, although it maintains its administrative weight, weakens as a commercial and residential axis.

On February 10, 2011, the Board declared Ferrol Vello an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), with the category of historical complex. The historical importance of this space was thus recognized, by law, in order to stop its degradation and rehabilitate it to recover part of the historical memory of the city. The City Council and the Junta de Galicia collaborate to recover the neighborhood.

Economy

Door of the Dike, Arsenal of Ferrol

Naval sector

The shipyards, founded in the reign of Felipe V, have been the motor of Ferrol and its region for many years. Currently, it is a sector in crisis, but it continues to be one of the points with the greatest industrial capacity (heavy industry) in all of Galicia. In Ferrol are the shipyards of the public company Navantia, specialized in the construction of large warships, as well as the repair of large ships (oil tankers, gas tankers, ferries, etc.).

Commercial port

The port of Ferrol plays an important role in Ferrol's economy. Made up of two docks, one around the city and the other at the mouth of the estuary, it has the second largest movement of goods in Galicia. It stands out in the importation of coal for the Endesa thermal power plant in Puentes de García Rodríguez, although its future is in doubt; gas for the Reganosa plant and wood for Ence and other companies. The outer port has one of the largest container terminals in Galicia, operated by the company FCT. Currently, progress is being made on the railway connection project with said port facilities.

Military Installations

The Spanish Navy forms another of the fundamental pillars of the city of Ferrol. The departmental city is the headquarters of:

• 31.a Escort squad (Fragatas series F-100).
• Escuela de Especialidades Antonio de Escaño.
• A Graña Specialty School.
• North Marine Corps, which has more than 350 troops.

Industrial estates

The city has a single industrial estate, shared with the city of Narón, with a combined area of 1,337,045 m². This is the A Gándara Industrial Estate, developed between the late 70s and early 80s of the XX century. Currently, it has a 100% occupancy and is constituted as an eminently commercial estate, which houses several car dealers, toy stores, clothing stores, furniture stores, gas stations, Alcampo shopping center, car workshops, etc.

Throughout the 2000s, the construction of a large industrial estate of approximately 1,480,000 m² was planned in the Leija-Mandiá area, which would multiply the industrial area that the city had, which due to the lack of demand for industrial land and the great availability of the nearby Río del Pozo industrial estate in Narón, was abandoned.

Shopping areas

Calle Real, neighborhood of La Magdalena

The commercial and leisure areas in the city are:

• Barrio de La Magdalena. City center, with grid-shaped layout. It is the main commercial and leisure area of the city, especially in its main streets: Real, Magdalena, Iglesia, Dolores, Galiano and María.
• Castile Road. Historically the main artery of the city that, as a commercial boulevard, links the Plaza de España with the municipal limit of Narón.
• Catabois Road. For more than two kilometres, you can find food facilities, decoration, banks, mechanical workshops, etc. There are also a lot of hospitality establishments, with numerous terraces installed on their spacious sidewalks.

Commercial areas

The city has three commercial areas:

• Alcampo Ferrol: First commercial center open in the city. It has a surface of 14 800 m2 and is located in the Polígono de La Gándara. It opened in 1986. In addition to hypermarket, there is a commercial gallery that has about twenty establishments of various sectors (cafeterias, animal shop, travel agency, optical, etc.). It was Alcampo's first hypermarket that had a gas station, opened since 1992. In its enclosure, there is an Aki chain DIY store.
• Porta Nova Shopping Centre: Inaugurated in 1995, it has an approximate area of 7500 m2. It is located in the Plaza del Inferniño, on the grounds that occupied the former Manuel Rivera Stadium of the Racing of Ferrol before moving to its facilities in La Malata. It has a large supermarket GADIS. Currently the property is practically unused.
• Ferrol Park: Commercial area of about 22 000 m2 located in the place of O Boial. Open to the public in 2013, it hosts companies from various commercial sectors, such as Carrefour, Mediamarkt, Burger King, Lidl, Brico Dépôt, Sprinter, C nightmareA, Casa, Kiwoko and Merkal Calzados, as well as several smaller venues for coffee shop, travel agency, lottery management, etc.

Monuments and places of interest

Sport and fishing port

Statue of the Marquis de Amboage in the square

• Naval Museum (Herrerías Center).
• Exponav (National Exhibition of Naval Construction).
• Museum of the Gallega Society of Natural History.
• Museum of Holy Week.
• Barrio de La Magdalena: dates from the centuryXVIIIWith its streets in damsel and its gallery houses.
• Canton of Molins, where trees grow antiquismos.
• Reina Sofía Municipal Park, which hosts the water theme space Aquaciencia, opened in 1999.
• Jofre Theatre.
• Concatedral de San Julián (in the La Magdalena district).
• Neoclassical Church of San Francisco (in the neighborhood of Ferrol Vello).
• Arsenal Building.
• Castle of San Felipe (on the opposite bank is the Castle of La Palma, belonging to the municipality of Mugardos).
• Hermitage of Chamorro: located on Mount Chamorro, in the parish of San Salvador de Serantes. On the day of the Virgin of Chamorro a great pilgrimage is celebrated.
• Hermitage and deposits of the island of Santa Comba.
• Lancha trip from Ferrol to Mugardos (from the dock of Curuxeiras).
• Captain General and the Herrera Gardens: next to these gardens are the statues of Mars and Jupiter, which are the oldest of Ferrol.^{[chuckles]required]} Next, the Captain's building will be converted into the Armada Archive and Library
• Beaches: The ferrolean coast is made up of several beaches of unspoilt environment, very crowded by swimmers in summer and all year by surf and windsurf enthusiasts. In 2014, four of them have a blue flag: Doniños, San Jorge, A Fragata and Esmelle. There are also Santa Comba, Ponzos and Covas.
• Entrance of the ria of Ferrol (Between Castles area): viewpoint from which you can see the ria morrow, the narrowing of it (where the castles of San Felipe and La Palma are located, one of them on each shore) and the city's own maritime facade.

World Heritage Site

In 2006, the Galician Government began the procedures with the authorities of the Ministry of Culture to incorporate its most important buildings from the Enlightenment period (castles of San Felipe and La Palma, which guard the Ferrol estuary) and the Arsenal to the Unesco World Heritage List. The first procedure was the inclusion in the Indicative List of Spanish Candidacies, always keeping in mind that it is only possible to propose to UNESCO one set per year.

Camino de Santiago

The city has not escaped the pilgrim movement either and the port of Ferrol is and has been a point of reference for the disembarkation of sailors bound for Santiago de Compostela. The legend of the English Way is part of the history of the city, where pilgrims from the most distant countries arrived.^{[citation required]}

Services

Transportation

Road network

Denomination of highways according to Law 37/2015, of September 29, on highways

Identifier	Route	Destination
AP-9E-1 Autopista del Atlántico	Ferrol-Guísamo-Santiago de Compostela-Pontevedra-Vigo-Tuy- A-55	The Coruña IP 1 Portugal
AG-64 Autovía Ferrol-Villalba	Ferrol-San Saturnino-Puentes de García Rodríguez	Villalba / A-8 Cantabrian highway
FE-11 East Access to Ferrol	Ferrol (av. de Esteiro)-Polígono Ind. A Gándara- AP-9E-1	AC-862 Narón (Xuvia)
FE-12 Connection with Ferrol Outer Port	AP-9E-1 -Narón (Freixeiro)- N-655 / AC-566	Narón (ind. Rio do Pozo)
FE-13 North Access to Ferrol	FE-14 Ferrol (Av. de As Pías)-Polígono Ind. A Gándara-Estr. de Castela- FE-15 / AP-9E-1 -Hospital Architect Marcide	AC-116 AG-64
FE-14 South Access to Ferrol	Ferrol (Av. de As Pías)-Fene	N-651 Betanzos / E-70 N-6
FE-15 North Access to Ferrol Port	Port of Ferrol	AP-9E-1
N-655 Access to the Foreign Port of Ferrol	FE-12 Naro	Puerto Exterior de Ferrol
AC-862	Ferrol-Narón-Campo do Hospital-Ortigueira	LU-862 Lugo Province
AC-116	Ferrol-O Val-Meirás	AC-566 Valdoviño

Railroads

Train station

Ferrol is the only Galician city that has a metric gauge power line, a line that connects the city with Gijón. It is also the end point of the Iberian gauge line, also run by Adif, which starts at Betanzos-Infesta, where it connects with the Palencia-La Coruña-San Cristóbal line. Ferrol Station accommodates both passenger and freight services. There is an Adif railway branch that connects the city station with the port of Ferrol, exclusively used for merchandise. Said branch is in the extension phase to the outer dock of the port.

Thanks to all these rail connections, the city has direct communication with cities such as La Coruña, Lugo, León, Valladolid, Zamora, Madrid, Gijón or Oviedo, with Renfe services.

These are the railway connections that the city has:

Cercanías (Renfe Cercanías AM)

Line	Origin/Destino	Intermediate stops	Destination/Origen
	Ferrol	San Xoán · Virxe do Mar · Santa Cecilia · Alto del Castaño · Piñeiros · Ponto · Jubia · Ferrerías · Sedes · Pedroso · San Saturnino · Lamas · Apalla · Moeche · Labacengos · Entrambasrías · Closed · Cuqueira · Santa Maria de Mera · Ponte de Mera · San Claudio · Senra	Ortigueira
NOTE: Not all the railway services of the line carry out the complete route between Ferrol and Ortigueira, in bold the stops that act as a line header depending on the time of the service.

Regional (Renfe Cercanías AM)

Line	Origin/Destino	Intermediate stops	Destination/Origen
	Ferrol	· Sandozo · Sando	Oviedo

Renfe Media Distance

Renfe Long Distance

Train	Origin/Destino	Intermediate stops	Destination/Origen
	Madrid-Chamartín - Clara Campoamor	Segovia-Guiomar · Medina del Campo AV · Zamora · Sanabria AV · La Gudiña-Porta de Galicia · Orense · Santiago de Compostela · La Coruña · Betanzos-Infiesta · Betanzos-Ciudad · Puentedeume	Ferrol

Bus

The Ferrol public bus network is integrated into the Galicia Metropolitan Transport Plan, and covers the municipalities of Ferrol, Narón and Neda. The single ticket is between €0.88 (with the metropolitan card) and €1.55. It is made up of the following 24 lines, operated by ALSA

Urban lines

Rural lines

Administration and politics

Municipal government

Panoramic Palacio Municipal (Ayuntamiento) - Casa do Concello (1953)

The city of Ferrol is the capital of the Ferrolterra region, which is why it houses various civil and military institutions, such as the headquarters of the Ferrol-San Cibrao Port Authority, the Mancomunidad de la Ría or the Courts of 1st Instance and Instruction of the Judicial District of Ferrol.

The municipal plenary session of the Ferrol City Council is made up of 25 councillors. Historically, the city government has suffered great instability, coalitions and motions of censure being common. In the 2019 municipal elections, the Popular Party's candidacy, headed by José Manuel Rey Varela, obtained 12 councilors, that of the Galician Socialist Party-PSOE 8, that of Ferrol en Común 3, and, finally, that of the Nationalist Bloc Galego 2. An investiture agreement between PSdeG-PSOE, Ferrol en Común and BNG, allowed Ángel Mato Escalona, from PSdeG-PSOE, to become mayor, who started a minority municipal government.

The municipality has had the following mayors since 1979:

Territorial organization

Parishes that are part of the municipality:

Culture

Jofre Theatre

• Torrente Ballester Cultural Center: It occupies the facilities of the former Hospital of Charity, located in the neighborhood of La Magdalena. This is a building dated in 1786 dedicated to culture since 1993. It includes all kinds of artistic manifestations, especially new trends. It permanently welcomes the exhibition of paintings by Felipe Bello Piñeiro and engravings by Máximo Ramos. The chapel of the former hospital serves as a stage for various cultural manifestations, from theatre to musical performances for minorities. It has a capacity of 176 spectators.

• Jofre Theatre: Emblematic building of the city, inaugurated in 1892, with plant in the form of horseshoe. Its wonderful acoustics make it the perfect stage for operas, orchestras, zarzuelas and all kinds of musical performances. All this is complemented by theatrical representations of the first level and other acts that take place in their facilities (galas, institutional acts, etc.). It was inaugurated in 2005 after a deserved rehabilitation process and has a capacity of 556 seats. It highlights its facade, the work of Rodolfo Ucha, who was the highest exponent of Modernism in Ferrol.

• Ferrol Auditorium: With 7000 square meters and a capacity of 900 spectators, it is intended for great artistic and musical performances: operas, contemporary music, musicals, etc.; as well as meetings, congresses, conferences and all kinds of professional meetings that require a wide space. Located in the Caranza district, it opened in 2014.

• Caranza Civic Center: Small sized space, dedicated small exhibitions, musical performances of local groups and amateur theatre cycles. It is located in the neighborhood of Caranza.

• Ateneo Ferrolán: Located in Magdalena Street, it hosts cinema cycles, conferences, small exhibitions, debates and all kinds of cultural events.

• Naval Museum: Located in facilities of the Spanish Navy, it offers the possibility of contemplating all kinds of objects related to the Navy of War, both models and parts of ships, combat flags, uniforms, maps, photographs, etc.

• National Exhibition of Naval Construction (Exponav): It shows the processes of construction of a ship, its most outstanding parts, operation, etc. He has remains of shipwrecks for centuries, such as those of the Fragata Santa Maria Magdalena. Through audiovisuals, it offers the possibility to learn more about the process of building and launching a ship. It is especially based on the work developed by the Ferrol shipyards and their region, dedicating the entire first floor of the property exclusively to the same, with special attention to the old ASTANO.

• Confusing: Welcomes lectures, conferences, author cinema cycles and all kinds of acts in your auditorium. Dedicates several plants from its imposing headquarters in the Canton of Molins to all types of non-permanent exhibitions, mainly painting, photography and engraving.

• Museum of the Gallega Society of Natural History: In it you can see bone remains and spread of birds, marine mammals, crustaceans other living beings. It is located in the Plaza de Canido.

• Museum of Holy Week: You can see many of the images and utensils that participate in the Holy Week of Ferrol, declared of international tourist interest. It is located at the bottom of the Mella coast.

Parties

Jesus Nazarene in the Procession of the Holy Meeting of 2006

• The Holy Week in Ferrol has been considered as an International Tourist Interest Party since 2014. Since 1995, it had the consideration of the National Tourist Interest Party. A total of five confraternities, gathered at the General Board of Confraternities and Hermandades, organize around twenty procedural parades during Passion Week.

• Venerable, Real and Very Ilustre Confraternity of the Blessed Christ of Mercy and Most Holy Mary of the Dolores.
• Pontificia, Real and Ilustre Cofradía de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias.
• Costume of Soledad.
• Confraternity of Knights of the Holy Burial.
• Costume of Merced.

Noche de las Pepitas: It is celebrated on the eve of March 19 (in the evening of the 18th, normally). Various musical groups from Ferrol and its region (known as rondallas), fill the city with their sounds, haunting the women from Ferrol, who watch the show from the balconies of the La Magdalena neighborhood. Late at night, a rondallas recital takes place in the Plaza de Amboage, with the participation of all those who have walked the streets in the afternoon. This celebration is considered a Galician Festival of Tourist Interest.

Summer Fiestas: During the month of August, they take place throughout the city, including top-level musical performances, zarzuela, open-air shows, a medieval fair and various sporting events. They have their culmination on the night of August 31, San Ramón Day, with a fireworks display by the sea, in honor of the Marquis of Amboage.

Chamorro Pilgrimage: it is celebrated on Easter Monday (local holiday in Ferrol). It is one of the most deeply rooted traditions in the city. The people of Ferrol ascend the slope of the mountain until they reach the hermitage of the Virgen del Nordés (or Chamorro) where they deposit their offerings in the form of ex-votos. After the religious celebrations, a day in the countryside begins accompanied by traditional Galician music and the typical pilgrimage donuts that are sold in the stalls set up for the occasion.

January 7: Saint Julian's Day, a local holiday. He is the patron saint of the city and the traditional dessert that is eaten that day is rice pudding. Free rations are usually distributed in the Plaza de Armas, where the town hall is, which also organizes institutional events that day.

Sports

The city's sport par excellence is triathlon, in which Ferrol is a benchmark on the state and Galician scene. For 10 years, the Ferrol Swimming Club had a triathlon section from which the five-time world champion Javier Gómez Noya emerged. Since 2006 the city has had a team: the Ferrol Triathlon Club. Several Spanish champions are active in its ranks and it has one of the largest triathlon schools in the State. High-level events are organized in Ferrol: Spanish Championships, the Ibero-American Championship, the National Club League, the Galician Championship, etc.

The city has teams from various sports disciplines. In the men's category, the most representative is Racing Club de Ferrol, a hundred-year-old club and a classic of Second Division B. It disputes the Second Division B league championship, competing in Group I.

O Parrulo Futsal also stands out, in rugby the Club Rugby de Ferrol and in basketball Ferrol C.B. Historically, Ferrol was a benchmark in the world of basketball, with the presence of the OAR Ferrol Basketball Club in the ACB League and the Korac Cup for more than ten years. Precisely in basketball, but in the female category, Ferrol has a team in the highest national competition, the Ferrol University Club, militating in LIGA 1 in 2014-2015. Founded in 1997, the club plays its matches at the Esteiro Sports Center. There are also clubs related to water activities, such as the A Cabana-Ferrol Rowing Club or the San Felipe Rowing Club.

During the month of August, the Ferrol Rally is held annually, scoring for the Spanish Rally Championship.

Sports facilities

The main sports facilities in the city are:

Stadium of A Malata, from the Grade of Tribuna

• A Malata Stadium

It has a soccer field, with a capacity for 12,043 spectators in the stands. It also has a heated swimming pool, gym, rockodrome and artificial lake for practicing kayak-polo.

• Polydeportivo A Malata

With a parquet surface, it has a capacity of 5,000 spectators. It mainly hosts futsal, basketball and handball matches, as well as gymnastics exhibitions and other sports.

• A Malata sports teams

Athletics tracks, tennis and paddle tennis courts.

• Sports Complex Javier Gómez Noya

Located in the Caranza neighborhood, it has soccer fields, a sports court, and a heated indoor pool. It has received this name since 2008, as a tribute to the triathlete and Olympic medalist from Ferrol Javier Gómez Noya.

• Polideportivo de Esteiro
• Polydeportivo del Ensanche
• A Gándara Football Fields

Media

• Press:
  • Journal of Ferrol: local newspaper founded in 1999
  • La Voz de Galicia: the city has delegation of this national newspaper
  • Ferrol360: the city has a digital newspaper founded in 2013 by several local journalists
• Television:
  • Premises:
    • Television Ferrol Canal 31

• Autonomic radios:

• National radios:

Twin cities

Notable people