Restoration work at the 18th century Jewish cemetery in Penzance, Cornwall has been completed but the cemetery will remain closed to the general public until Spring 2016. This, reports the Friends of the Jewish Cemetery, will be “to give the re-seeded areas of the grass a chance to grow back.”
As we reported in February, the cemetery received a £13,000 grant from the national lottery to carry out repair work, which included repairing the walls and ground surface, including floor slabs at the entrance, positioning a ramp for wheelchair access and reinforcing some of the gravestones.
The cemetery, believed founded in the 1740s, has been described as “by far the finest” of the 25 Georgian Jewish cemeteries in Britain outside of London. It includes about 50 well preserved gravestones and is surrounded by a high stone wall dating from 1845. It also has a ceremonial hall/tahara house. The cemetery is listed by English Heritage as a Grade 2 heritage site.
The last Jews in Penzance moved away in around 1913. The long-disused cemetery, accessed via a passage between 19 and 20 Leskinnick Terrace, is owned by the Jewish Board of Deputies (BOD) but is maintained by the Penzance town clerk’s office and Penlee House Museum and Gallery.
Meanwhile, a new book on the cemetery, a concise history and guide by Keith Pearce, has been published.
It is available for £4.99 (plus postage and packaging) from the shop at Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance. You may call 01736 363625 to order a copy, or contact info@penleehouse.org.uk.
See a photo gallery of the completed restoration work here
Friends of the Jewish Cemetery in Penzance web site
Friends of the Jewish Cemetery Facebook page, with photos and updates