Ayuntamiento de Coaña
(Coaña Town Council)

History of the Council

Any historical account about the council of Coaña must start, for the moment, with the castro (hill-fort) settlements as no other finding allows us to verify that there was human presence before them which, on the other hand, could be foreseeable if we take into account that remains of the activity of the Palaeolithic man have appeared on both sides of Coaña´s coastline.


In the early Middle Ages, we can already get some information about the settlement and the toponymy of the lands that make up the present council of Coaña.
This council becomes a part of the larger area (between the Eo river and the Navia river) which Alfonso VII yields to the bishop of Oviedo in 1.154 to put an end to the continuous lawsuits between this prelate and the one in Lugo.


Until the 16th century Coaña is still under the government of the bishop, but it is when, taking advantage of the release of ecclesiastical possessions decreed during the reign of Felipe II, the old territory redeemed itself (1.581) including four parishes of the current council, whereas Cartavio and Mohías managed to do it separately in 1.583 and 1.584, respectively. This allowed, later on, the establishment of the Town Council, autonomous from the old territory of Castropol. The first bylaws date from 1.583 and were renewed two centuries later, in 1.783.


The military events that took place during the Spanish War of Independence had ill effects in Coaña, which was plundered in 1.809 by the troops of Mathieu that were moving forward from the west. In 1.811 there were also some skirmishes in the council, which, in that year, housed the Military Junta in Mohías on several occasions.


The 19th century would bring important events for the progress of the council of Coaña. In 1.841 a town hall is provided for the Town Council and in 1.863 starts the building of an iron bridge over the river Navia, which would replace the traditional crossing by boat, whose exploitation had been monopolized by the nobles in some places.


Finally, in 1.868 the engineering work that was going to communicate the lands of Coaña and Navia was inaugurated. In the 20th century, during the Spanish Civil War a military aerodrome was fitted out in Jarrio and these lands didn’t return to its owners until 1.963. In the 80s, the Regional Hospital was built on these lands and nowadays it serves the North-west of Asturias.