Neda town hall

Neda Town Hall sits on Avenida de Algeciras 34, right in the centre of this small town in the province of A Coruña, Galicia. The building housing the mayor's office and the municipal council today dates only to 1934, yet the ground beneath it has been in civic and charitable use since the early 1500s.

A hospital before it was a town hall

Long before any council chamber stood here, the site belonged to the Hospital do Espírito Santo, a charitable hospital founded by Pero García and Margarita Fernández. A will dated 1539 confirms the institution was already running around 1500, and a commemorative plaque from 1892 records its founding story. When the current town hall went up in 1934, the old hospital buildings were cleared to make room for it — all but one structure.

The clock tower that survived

That surviving structure is the Torre del Reloj, a clock tower added to the hospital complex in 1786 and still standing right next to today's town hall. It's a square, plainly built stone tower: a lintelled doorway, an arched window resting on columns, and a bell-and-clock turret on top that gave the tower its name. Alongside it, a stone cross and the hospital's founding inscription are the only other physical traces left of an institution that served Neda for more than four centuries.

On the Camino Inglés

Neda lies along the Camino Inglés, the English Way to Santiago de Compostela — one of the historic pilgrim routes converging on the cathedral city. The town hall and its clock tower stand directly on this route, so pilgrims walking through Neda pass the group of buildings almost by default, whether or not they stop to look.

What to look for on site

The town hall itself is a working administrative building, so most visitor interest centres on the adjoining clock tower and the hospital relics beside it. Worth a slow look: the tower's arched window on its paired columns, the lintel over the doorway, and — nearby — the stone cross and Renaissance-era founding inscription that are the last remnants of the old hospital.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Neda Town Hall located? At Avenida de Algeciras 34, in Neda, in the province of A Coruña, Galicia.

When was the current town hall building built? In 1934, on the former grounds of the Hospital do Espírito Santo.

What remains of the old hospital next to the town hall? The 1786 clock tower (Torre del Reloj), a stone cross, and the hospital's founding inscription.

Is the town hall on a pilgrimage route? Yes — it stands on the Camino Inglés, one of the historic paths to Santiago de Compostela.