The birthplace of Ireland's patron saint has always been clouded in mystery, with most researchers only able to speculate that he was born somewhere on the west coast of Scotland.
Parts of Scotland, Wales and even Ireland have all laid claim to his birthplace.
However, recent research by a team investigating Roman fortifications in Scotland believes they've uncovered the truth.
They stated in a paper in 2018, that they believe St. Patrick was actually born in the town of Old Kilpatrick in the 4th century AD.
The paper entitled ' Saint Patrick's birthplace & the names of the Roman forts along the Antonine Wall' found that new Roman period place names assigned to four places along the Antonine Wall, which was constructed in Scotland around 142 AD by the Romans, helped to confirm it.
The researchers say that the name for one of the forts which had been previously assumed to be Subdobiadon would be better fit by the name 'Nemeton' due to a mistake by the copy writer.
Nemeton is generally agreed to mean "a sacred place", which they say would suit the religious background of Saint Patrick.
Nemeton then would be Old Kilpatrick near Dumbarton, with the name linked to the Gaelic hymn of Fiacc, which records Nemthur as the birthplace of Saint Patrick.
According to St Patrick’s autobiographical account, Confessio - which historians generally agree was written by him - he was first taken from Britain to Ireland by pirates who captured him and took him there as a slave.
Located at the western end of the Antonine Wall, and the seventh of the main forts along the wall, Old Kilpatrick would have been accessible by these enslavers who would have approached the town using the River Clyde.
The name Old Kilpatrick itself comes from the Scottish Gaelic 'Cille Phàdraig' meaning "Patrick's church" and it's long been claimed he was not only born there but is also supposedly buried at St Patrick’s Well at Old Kilpatrick.
Whatever the truth of his birthplace, it's assured that many will be celebrating his life on his feast day March 17.
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