Sant Martí · 65
el Clot
El Clot is an old nucleus of Sant Martí de Provençals, documented in 1208 as the Clot de la Mel, that can still be read today in Carrer del Clot, an 1889 market, a flour mill turned cultural centre and a park built on railway workshops.[1][2][3][4]
In Parc del Clot, the brick arches and cast-iron columns are not decoration: they are what remains of the railway workshops that occupied this site until the park opened in 1986.[3]
Before it was annexed to Barcelona in 1897, el Clot was one of the nuclei of Sant Martí de Provençals. It had formed in the 17th century around the old Vallès road, today's Carrer del Clot, in a rural depression rich in market gardens and mills along the Rec Comtal.[5][6]
In the 19th century the first flour mills arrived, then textile works and tanneries; the railway toward France began operating in 1854. The neighbourhood received a first wave of migrants in the 1920s and a much larger one between the 1950s and 1970s.[6][1][5]
el Clot (neighbourhood 65) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.
Where the name comes from
The medieval name was Clotum Melis, the Clot de la Mel. Catalan Wikipedia derives the present name from cros, “bottom”, meaning cultivated land lying in hollows; Spanish Wikipedia glosses the Latin form as “hollow of honey”. The sources do not agree on the whole derivation, but all start from a dip in the ground.[1][6]
Since 2006 el Clot lies between Carrer del Dos de Maig, Carrer d'Aragó, Avinguda Meridiana, Navas de Tolosa, Mallorca, Espronceda and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes. That redefinition made el Camp de l'Arpa a separate neighbourhood.[6][1]
Before the neighbourhood
In 1208 King Pere el Catòlic ceded to the Hospitallers the tower of the Clot de la Mel and the mill of en Soler, both near the Rec Comtal: the earliest documented record of the place.[1]
For centuries it was farmland supplying Barcelona with vegetables, watered by the Rec Comtal; industry arrived in the 19th century using that same water.[5][6][1]
How the streets were made
Carrer del Clot follows the line of the old Vallès road and is the axis of the old nucleus. Mercat del Clot, by Pere Falqués, opened there in 1889 with three naves under a metal frame and ceramic decoration on its façades.[5][6][2]
Industry left large pieces: of the Farinera, founded in 1879, only the modernist building of 1908 was kept, and the railway workshops gave way to Parc del Clot, which retains arches and columns from the old station.[3][4]
Dates that changed it
- 1208 the king cedes the tower of the Clot de la Mel and the mill of en Soler to the Hospitallers.[1]
- 1854 the Barcelona-Granollers line opens, with a freight station at el Clot.[3]
- 1879 the Farinera del Clot is founded.[4]
- 1889 Mercat del Clot, by Pere Falqués, is inaugurated.[2]
- 1897 el Clot is annexed to Barcelona with Sant Martí de Provençals.[5]
- 1908 the Farinera's modernist main building, by Josep Maria Pericas, is built.[4]
- 1986 Parc del Clot opens on the old railway workshops.[3]
- 1999 the Farinera is inaugurated as a cultural centre.[4]
- 2006 the new delimitation makes el Camp de l'Arpa a separate neighbourhood.[6][1]
People and collective life
Federació d'Entitats del Clot-Camp de l'Arpa
It has run the Farinera del Clot since 2004 under a model of civic governance; in 1977 a neighbourhood association had already demanded the building for community use.[4]
Institutions
Mercat del Clot
Inaugurated in 1889 and designed by Pere Falqués, it is a covered market of three naves under a metal frame, renovated in 1994-95.[2]
La Farinera del Clot
Municipal cultural centre in the former flour mill at Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 837; since 2004 it has been run by the Federació d'Entitats del Clot-Camp de l'Arpa.[4]
Parc del Clot
Park by Dani Freixes and Vicente Miranda, opened in 1986 on the site of the railway workshops.[3]
Struggles that left a mark
What can still be seen
What disappeared
The railway workshops
The repair workshops of the large Clot station, enlarged in 1912, became obsolete in 1972; today only arches and columns remain inside the park.[3]
The neighbourhood today
In 2026 el Clot had 26,907 residents, 386 residents per hectare, a 2023 mean census-section income of €24,470, 69.7 hectares, and 21.3% of residents held non-Spanish nationality.
Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 21.3%
What the guides leave out
A hill made by hand
The hill in Parc del Clot is artificial: it was formed from excavated earth.[3]
Read it on foot
Start: Clot (L1/L2) · End: La Farinera del Clot[4]
Walking (excluding stop time): 7 min · 520 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 41 min
The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the three marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.
el Clot (neighbourhood 65) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.
Coordinates
Coordinates
Coordinates
Sources for this page
Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.
- [1] Viquipèdia (2026). el Clot. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [2] Viquipèdia (2026). Mercat del Clot. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [3] Viquipèdia (2026). Parc del Clot. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [4] Viquipèdia (2026). Farinera del Clot. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [5] Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana (2026). el Clot. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [6] Wikipedia (2026). El Clot. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
- [7] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [8] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
- [9] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 9 sources consulted