Just a 20-minute drive south from the town of Kilkenny, Ireland, an abandoned medieval village is rumoured to harbour a mysterious Christmas legend.
In celebration of the Christmas holiday, we’re republishing one of our favourite BBC Travel stories, which details a little-known legend about St Nick, the inspiration behind Santa Claus.
Amid green hilly pastures dotted with grazing sheep and a cemetery with graves dating back to the 13th Century, the ruins of St Nicholas Church tower over the family home of Maeve and Joe O’Connell. Among those resting eternally here are early inhabitants of the estate, parishioners of the church and – according to local legend – St Nicholas of Myra.
Yes, the St Nick who inspired Santa Claus.
Today, the O’Connells are the owners and sole (living) human inhabitants of Jerpoint Park, a 120-acre deserted 12th-Century medieval town located 20km south of the town of Kilkenny, Ireland. Located along the crossing point of the River Nore and Little Arrigle River, the settlement (formerly called Newtown Jerpoint) is thought to have been founded by the Normans, who arrived in Ireland around 1160 CE. According to a conservation plan compiled by Ireland’s Heritage Council, the town flourished into the 15th Century, with archaeological evidence revealing homes, a marketplace, a tower, a bridge, streets, a mill, a water management system and nearby Jerpoint Abbey, which still stands today. But by the 17th Century, the town’s occupants were gone, likely from a combination of violent attacks and a plague.
How the rumoured resting place of St Nicholas ended up on an ghost town-turned-private farm is something of a mystery. But some – the O’Connells included – believe local lore can shed some light on the remarkable claim.
“Legend has it that it’s always been here,” Maeve said as she led me around the property, accompanied by Tim, her family’s friendly chocolate Labrador. She looked in the direction of an ornate stone effigy in the church graveyard. Depicted on the flat gravestone was the figure of a man standing with his hands together at the thumbs, palms facing outward, referencing the interred person’s charitable nature. “He’s giving,” she said.
The symbolism, of course, needs little explanation for anyone who grew up receiving gifts from Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas and St Nick’s many other monikers. Although Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of those who believe, the person who inspired those legendary figures was the mortal man, St Nicholas of Myra.
Before he became a saint, Nicholas was an orphaned boy born in the ancient Roman city of Patara who gave his inheritance to the “needy, the sick and the poor”, according to Vatican News. He became Bishop of Myra, which is now part of modern-day Turkey; attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 that declared Jesus the son of God; died in Myra on 6 December 343 and was buried in Myra. Yet, the exact location of St Nicholas’ body today continues to puzzle scholars.