In 1169 the Castle of Castro Ferral was conquered by Calatrava knights commanded by Fernando de Icaza, second Master of the Order. However, before the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the fortress was again under Muslim control. Ferral would star in several acts of arms during the military campaign that would conclude with the Christian triumph of Navas (1212). The strategic importance of this castle, by controlling one of the traditional passes of Sierra Morena, made it an essential objective for any army that tried to cross the area.

The transfer of the border to the Betic Cordilleras marked the decline of Castro Ferral, which lost its role as guardian of the accesses to the Guadalquivir Valley. This circumstance was joined by the foundation of Santa Elena (Ermita de los Palacios), which played down its importance as a reference center for the sparse population of those contours. In an undetermined time they cut it in to prevent it from becoming a den of robbers.

Ferral Castle consisted of three defensive enclosures. The first, currently the worst preserved, was made up of a wide palisade on an earth slope that closed the top of the fence, describing an almost perfect circle. This defensive line is more solid and pronounced in the extreme North and Northeast, where the unevenness of the terrain is greater.

Inside, a second enclosure is developed, possibly built in earth mud on a masonry base, of which various remains and two bastions that could protect the entrance to the castle are preserved.

The central core of the castle is made up of a rectangular mortar wall enclosure, inside which are visible the remains of subways, possibly wells.