page_title: Tomb of Saint Nicholas
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tomb of Saint Nicholas / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Medieval Church of St Nicholas, Jerpoint Park, Co. Kilkenny
context_page_description: The supposed tomb of Saint Nicholas is a slab effigy in low relief of an early 14th-century ecclesiastic popularly associated with Saint Nicholas of Myra in County Kilkenny, Ireland. While more probably a local priest from Jerpoint Abbey, it lies in the medieval lost town of Newtown Jerpoint, just west of the Cistercian Jerpoint Abbey.
  It is located 2.0 miles southwest of Thomastown in the grounds of the privately owned Jerpoint Park. St. Nicholas's Church and graveyard are in the town, where the earthly remains of St. Nicholas of Myra are said to be buried. Belmore House stands at the top of the town.
  The memorial has been moved since 1839, and it has sustained damage from the fall of a tree. A conservation plan was developed by the Heritage Council in 2007. In advance of conservation work in 2013, St Nicholas church and the tomb of St Nicholas were surveyed and modelled in 3D.
context_section_description: The lost town of Newtown Jerpoint was founded by either Earl Marshall or Griffin Fitzwilliam in the 12th century at the main crossing of the River Nore by a toll bridge, giving Jerpoint its name, meaning 'Nore bridge'. It was a vibrant town, with about 27 dwellings, a court house, woollen mill, a tannery, a brewery, and reputedly 14 taverns. Newtown Jerpoint lasted at least into the 17th century, but eventually declined, perhaps from the loss of its bridge and the re-routing of the road. Its visible remains and its proximity to one of Ireland's best-known and well-preserved Cistercian abbeys makes Newtown Jerpoint one of the most important sites in the study of medieval settlements in Ireland. The ruins of St Nicholas's medieval parish church dates from the 12th to 13th century, with a late medieval rood gallery and a tower where the parish priest would have resided.
  Belmore House was commissioned as a hunting lodge by Earl Belmore in the 18th century and designed by the Irish architect Sir Richard Morrison. An extension of the house was planned as a square villa at the east end of the house with the rest of the house to become a service wing, but it was never built. The Earl of Belmore's main residence was Castle Coole, in County Fermanagh.
caption: View of St Nicholas Church from Belmore House
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