Sandwiched between La Meridiana and Gran Via, El Clot is one of the oldest parts of Sant Martí and was referred to in medieval times as Clotum Melis or Clot de la Mel.
A clot in Catalan means a dip or depression and the area was a shallow valley perfect for crop farming and water mills due to its location close to the Rec Comtal water course.
This rural character was maintained until the 19th century and although some of the masias and fine houses, such as the Torre del Fang and Torre Sant Joan, still survive, most have long since disappeared.
Throughout the 19th century, the first flour mills arrived to be followed by textile factories and brickyards and El Clot became an important working-class industrial neighbourhood populated mainly by new arrivals from the rest of Catalonia and particularly Aragón.
In 1854, the railway line north to France was opened followed by the Zaragoza line in 1861.
In the the 20th century, these train lines, which had divided the neighbourhood, were buried underground
However, the divisions remained firstly due to La Meridiana, which opened in 1964, cutting across the neighbourhood and later Carrer Aragó and Gran Via.
There are currently plans to make crossing these barriers easier, particularly between Clot and Camp de l'Arpa.
As factories and workshops moved away in the second half of the 20th century, the neighbourhood lost some of its industrial character.
In fact, you can still visit, La Farinera, an old flour factory located on Gran Via close to Plaça de les Glòries, which at one point produced over a third of Spain's flour.
The deindustrialisation has also meant that new parks, such as the Parc del Clot have been created and areas such the Clot de la Mel have been redeveloped.