Newtown Jerpoint, medieval lost town and park near Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland

Newtown Jerpoint is a deserted medieval town in the grounds of Jerpoint Park, 3.2 km southwest of Thomastown, County Kilkenny, just west of Jerpoint Abbey. Its remains include the 12th–13th-century ruins of St Nicholas's Church, with a late medieval rood gallery and a tower where the parish priest lived, and Belmore House, an 18th-century hunting lodge designed by Sir Richard Morrison.

The town was likely founded in the 12th century by either Earl Marshall or Griffin Fitzwilliam and takes its name from a bridge crossing the River Nore that was crucial for trade and travel. It gradually lost importance, possibly when the bridge fell into disuse and road routes shifted to other locations.

Local lore holds that Saint Nicholas of Myra, the model for Santa Claus, lies buried in the graveyard of St Nicholas's Church. The grave slab shows a cleric with the heads of two knights behind his shoulders, said to be the crusaders who brought the remains to Ireland. A rival version credits the de Frainet family, who moved the relics from Myra to Bari in 1169 and later to Jerpoint, buried here in 1200.

The site can be explored at your own pace with gentle walks through the ruins offering views of the surrounding land and river. Plan for about two hours to properly walk through the old streets and examine the building foundations scattered across the grounds.

The 2007 Lidar survey by the Heritage Council and the Discovery Programme mapped the buried street plan of Newtown Jerpoint, which the Heritage Council calls one of Ireland's best surviving examples of a deserted 12th-century medieval town. The earthworks also trace the line of the old River Nore crossing.