Newtown Jerpoint

The medieval lost town of Newtown Jerpoint is just west of the Cistercian Jerpoint Abbey, near Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located 3.2 km south west from Thomastown just off the R448 regional road.
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.
Legends.
St. Nicholas who inspired the legend of Santa Claus is believed to have been buried in Newtown Jerpoint some 800 years ago. The grave slab features a cleric with the heads of two knights behind each shoulder and is said to be St Nicholas and the heads, the two crusaders who, so the story goes, brought Nicholas' remains back to Ireland.
Evidence lends some possible credence to this tale as the Normans in Kilkenny were keen collectors of religious relics. And it is known that Norman knights participated in the Holy Land Crusades
Another version of the story tells of a French family, the de Frainets, who removed Nicholas' remains from Myra to Bari, Italy, in 1169 when Bari was under the Normans. The de Frainets were crusaders to the Holy Land and also owned land in Thomastown, Ireland. After the Normans were forced out of Bari, the de Frainets moved to Nice, France, taking the relics with them. When the Normans lost power in France, Nicholas de Frainet moved to Ireland. This story has the relics being buried in Jerpoint in 1200.
Archaeology.
A survey was commissioned in 2007 by the Heritage Council Ireland and the Discovery Programme that used Lidar to show the extent of Newtown Jerpoint. 
"One of Ireland’s best surviving examples of a deserted 12th Century Medieval Town" ... Quote from The Heritage Council of Ireland