The Deserted Town of Newtown Jerpoint, Co Kilkenny, and its Hinterland

This thesis on the deserted town of Newtown Jerpoint and its hinterland is about broadening and deepening our understanding of how and why the settlement originated and developed during the medieval period and how it related and interacted with the pre-existing landscape, its immediate hinterland and nearby coeval settlements. A combination of remote sensing data (photography, geophysics and LIDAR) and historical texts and maps were used to gain new insights about these relationships. This addressed questions about the impact of Newtown Jerpoint on the receiving environment, the intentions or objectives of its founders, and in turn, the classification of the settlement and the identity of its occupants over the course of its existence. It also explores the settlement's decline and eventual desertion, using this gathered information to work out a chronology for its downturn and determine why it failed to sustain its early growth or continue existing beyond the end of the 17th century. The results have shown that Newtown Jerpoint was founded near an earlier Gaelic agricultural settlement and may also have been preceded by an pervious phase of Anglo-Norman settlement. The layout of the town was directly influenced by earlier ridge and furrow cultivation which existed on both sides of the river for a considerable duration and may have pre-dated Anglo-Norman settlement in the area. Analysis of Newtown Jerpoint’s status, function, layout and morphology has shown that, while it cannot be comfortably classified as town, nor is it satisfactory to label it as a village. This ambiguity was also evident in the results of an architectural analysis of the parish church of St. Nicholas as well as in an analysis of the social identity of the settlement’s population. The parish church of Newtown Jerpoint was constructed over at least three phases. It was initially a modest building. The second phase focused on upgrades with liturgical and intercessory functions, such as a bell cote, a rood gallery with chantry chapels, and a porch, while the last phase, the residential tower, appears to have been more concerned with an outward display of status and arguably had a negative impact on the interior of the church. Lastly it was shown that, although Newtown became deserted, it was not as a result of a failure to compete with Thomastown. On the contrary, Newtown’s relevance was directly tied to the activity of its near neighbor as a port. When this decreased, Newtown was unable to pivot economically and was left vulnerable to the upheavals of land ownership during the 17th and early 18th century.