Village
Forcall is a municipality in the comarca of Els Ports, in Castellón, with a notable arcaded main square. Its name probably comes from the fork formed by the Bergantes, Cantavieja and Caldés rivers. In its territory lies the Moleta dels Frares, one of the most interesting archaeological sites in the province, identified with the Roman city of Lesera: a strategic Ibero-Roman centre between the Mediterranean and the Ebro valley, discovered in 1876 and unique of its period between Sagunto and Tortosa, of which a good part of the wall is preserved. A traditional hamlet of Morella and a lordship of Blasco de Alagón, Forcall received its Carta Puebla on 2 May 1246. In 1463 its inhabitants, led by Miguel Balaguer, rose up against John II of Aragon in favour of the Catalans.
Monument
The Plaza Mayor of Forcall, from the 16th century, is the most significant monument in the municipality and one of the most notable urban spaces in Els Ports. It has an arcaded structure, with porticoes formed by round arches, and is surrounded by palace-houses that form an interesting monumental ensemble. The Casa de la Vila stands out, from the 16th-17th centuries, with a double flying staircase over a round arch that is unique in the Comunitat Valenciana; the building today houses the town hall, a former 15th-century church of San Miguel and an inn.
Activity
Forcall celebrates its patronal festival from the last weekend of August to the first of September, in honour of San Víctor and Nuestra Señora de la Consolación, with fireball-horned bulls, heifers and traditional dances to the sound of the dulzaina and tabalet.
Monument
Group of manor houses in Forcall, surrounded by four rocky hills, one of the villages with the most heritage in the comarca of Els Ports. Among them stand out the ancestral homes of the Fort, Maçaners and Berga families, as well as the old Forn de la Vila. The Palace of Osset-Miró, from the 16th century, preserves an artistically carved eave, doors and interior coffered ceilings. In the main square stands the Casa de la Vila, from the 16th and 17th centuries and former municipal warehouse, with a double cantilevered staircase over a semicircular arch that is unique in the whole of the Valencian Community. The Casa-Palacio of the Miró family is also preserved.
Monument
The present-day building of the church of the Asunción de Forcall, in neoclassical style, was built in the 19th century over the Gothic temple of the 13th and 14th centuries destroyed in the Carlist Wars; of the original construction only the apse with its presbytery, some windows, gargoyles and a rose window survive, along with frescoes by Juan Francisco Cruella. Its bell tower, 55 metres tall, follows the Ionic order, and the later extension concealed the Gothic remains with Corinthian-order decoration. Dedicated to the Asunción de Nuestra Señora, it has nine side chapels with dedications such as el Rosario, la Consolación, el Carmen, los Dolores, San José, San Antonio and San Víctor, and was built of rubble masonry, exposed brick and ashlar stone.
Monument
The hermitage of the Virgen de la Consolación, patron saint of Forcall, stands at the entrance to the village coming from Morella, at the end of a zigzag path lined with cypresses. The present building, in Baroque style, dates from 1675, although devotion is documented as early as 1553, when worship already existed in a small chapel on the same site; it was completed in 1783, the year the old Gothic stone sculpture was replaced by a wooden carving. During the Civil War, in 1936, an iconoclastic attack destroyed its neoclassical high altar, now rebuilt. It still serves religious functions in September, during the patronal festival, when on the preceding Saturday a torchlit procession comes down from the hermitage singing the rosary, and on the second day of Easter the people of Forcall go up for a picnic snack.
Monument
The Moleta dels Frares is an archaeological site in the municipality of Forcall (Els Ports), on a narrow plateau at about 900 metres altitude, with near-vertical walls that make it a natural fortress that is hard to access. It probably corresponds to the Ibero-Roman settlement of Lesera, an identification made possible by an inscription dedicated to Júpiter Conservator found at the site. It was inhabited from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity: during the Iberian period it was a fortified oppidum, and after the Roman conquest, around 200 BC, it became an administrative centre that even received municipium status between 10 BC and AD 14. It was abandoned in the 4th century. It has been declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1991.
Monument
13th-century oven in Forcall, considered the oldest working oven in Europe.
Nature
Spring with mineral-medicinal properties documented since 1649, in the municipality of Forcall, next to the Caldes, Cantavieja and Bergantes rivers. It is also known as the Fuente de la Salud and rises within the very course of the Caldes River, amid a natural landscape alongside other springs in the municipality.
Curiosity
Comic artist José Peñarroya Peñarroya (Forcall, 1910 - Barcelona, 1 May 1975) first worked as an accountant and later moved into animation at Dibujos Animados Chamartín, before joining Editorial Bruguera in 1947. He created characters such as Don Pío (1947), Calixto (1947), Gordito Relleno (1948), Don Berrinche (1948), La familia Pi (1957) and Pitagorín (1966), and contributed to magazines such as Pulgarcito and El DDT. In 1957 he co-founded D.E.R., an alternative publisher of the magazine Tío Vivo, before returning to Bruguera. He is considered one of the "five greats" of Editorial Bruguera in the 1950s, alongside Cifré, Conti, Escobar and Giner, valued for his subtle humour and refined style. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage.
Activity
The festival of San Antonio Abad of Forcall, in the Els Ports comarca (Castellón), is held around 17 January as a secular-religious event that has managed to preserve the tradition, considered one of the most interesting in the Comunidad Valenciana for its age and distinctive character. Besides the Plantá del Mayo and Els Botets, it includes events such as the Vida del Santo, the Santantonà and the Cremà de la Barraca.
Historical milestone
The infante Pedro of Portugal, in the name of James I, granted the settlement charter that ordered the Christian settlement of the valley where the rivers Cantavieja, Caldés and Bergantes meet; Forcall was not emancipated from Morella until 1691.