The structure, along with its attendant stone path seems to have been established by the Knights Templar. Down the centuries, the little church has been sacked, burned, and otherwise destroyed, but was rebuilt each time.The island is named after St John the Baptist who local tradition holds visited the island. it’s been important to both Spaniards and Basques. It was used as a defensive outpost for the Lords of Biscay and was a meeting point for King Alfonso XI and Juan Nuñez de Lara (the Lord of Biscay) in 1334. It was also sacked in 1593 by infamous pirate Sir Francis Drake, who looted the hermitage and then allegedly killed the poor hermit–throwing him off of the cliff! In one of its many fires in 1978 the church was destroyed but was rebuilt and inaugurated in 1980 as we see it today.