GENERAL/REGIONAL
A “one-stop shop” for Jewish Heritage in Britain, a very extensive web site and database with information, news, photographs, project and threat reports and other details of Jewish historic architecture, synagogues and cemeteries in the UK, including all Jewish sites listed as National Heritage sites . The Survey of the Jewish Built Heritage in the UK and Ireland, begun in 1997, has recorded more than 350 synagogues and Jewish sites that date from before World War II.
Dr. Sharman Kadish, Director
Jewish Heritage UK
Room 204, Ducie House
37, Ducie Street Manchester, M1 2JW
United Kingdom
Email: director@jewish-heritage-uk.org
National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail
A comprehensive web site that is an initiative of the Spiro Ark http://www.spiroark.org/. Its goal is “to raise awareness of this rich, but often unknown, history among both Jews and non-Jews alike, and to encourage individuals to further investigate their own roots as well as the fascinating origins of the community.”
The site has links to Jewish heritage trails in nearly 20 localities, with more planned: London, Bath, Bradford, Brackley, Bright & Hove, Canterbury, Cheltenham, Bury St. Edmunds, Dover, Guildford, Hull, Leeds, Lincoln, Northampton, Oxford, Ramsgate, Sheerness & Blue Town, Stroud.
There are also links to many institutions and other resources.
Jewish Communities and Records – UK
Details of more that 1,200 present and former Jewish congregations across the British Isles, with searchable databases. Easily consulted list of Jewish Heritage sites in the British Isles, arranged geographically.
The site also includes a list of synagogues in the UK that were damaged or destroyed by German bombing in World War II
International Jewish Cemeteries Project for the UK
Searchable database of Jewish Cemeteries in the U.K. – history, maps, epitaphs, inscriptions, photographs, numerous resources. It has a blog with news and articles.
Jewish Cemeteries in the West of England
An article by Rabbi Bernard Susser, providing history and details of Jewish cemeteries in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Avon and Gloucester, the earliest dating back to the second half of the 18th century.
Mainly oriented to genealogy, with a searchable database of Anglo-Jewish community records.
SITES
Links and information for heritage sites in London and around the UK can be found in the web sites listed above. Here below, we provide links to heritage sites that have their own web sites or other more extensive online information.
LONDON
Jewish Communities and Records London Page
The page has many links, maps, articles about Jewish London.
Website devoted to the Jewish East End
Detailed site, with photos, descriptions, walking routes, etc., in East London’s historic Jewish district.
SYNAGOGUES
4 Heneage Lane
London EC3A 5DQ (Entry on Bevis Marks)
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7626 1274
Britain’s oldest synagogue, founded in 1701 and still in use by the Spanish and Portuguese congregation.
4a Sandys Row
Spitalfields,
London | E1 7HW
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7377 6196
Email: info@sandysrow.org.uk
London’s oldest Ashkenazi Synagogue, established in a converted French chapel in 1867-70, and the last fully functioning Jewish community in what was once the heart of the Jewish East End.
JEWISH CEMETERIES
Jewish Cemeteries in London (International Jewish Cemetery Project page)
Hoop Lane, Golders Green
London. NW11 7EU
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8455 2569
Founded in 1897 and the burial place of many notables.
ENGLISH REGIONS
BATH
Located on Bradford Road, Combe Down, it was founded in the 1830s; earliest gravestone dates from 1842, latest from 1921; the prayer house is listed as an English Heritage site.
EXETER
Synagogue
Built in 1763, it the third oldest in England. A major restoration of the building took place in 1998. An archived web site includes a detailed description of that restoration process, with drawings and comments.
Located on Magdalen Road on the edge of Bull Meadow. It was established in 1757. The earliest legible tombstone is from 1807.
Jewish cemetery information on the Exeter Synagogue Archive
List of tombstone inscriptions
LIVERPOOL
Princes Road
Liverpool L8 1TG
Tel: +44 (0) 151 709 3431
Fax: +44 (0) 151 709 4187
Designed by two Christian architects, the brothers William James Audsley and George Ashdown Audsley, from Edinburgh, and built in 1874 to replace an earlier synagogue, this is one of Britain’s finest examples of Moorish-style architecture and is a Grade 1 listed building.
Photo Gallery of the Synagogue, on BBC web site
Founded in 1835 and the burial place of leading Jewish business, the cemetery lay derelict for most of the past century: its last recorded burial was in 1929. A fullscale restoration of the cemetery was completed in April 2012 thanks to a £494,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
OXFORD
The Jewish Centre
21 Richmond Road, Oxford
OX1 2JL United Kingdom
Email: info@oxfordjewishheritage.co.uk
PLYMOUTH (DEVON)
Catherine St., Plymouth PL1 2AD
Tel (mobile): +44 (0) 7753 267616
Email: phccaretaker@yahoo.co.uk
Built in 1762, the synagogue is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in the English-speaking world.
The Old Jewish Burial Ground at Plymouth Hoe (Lambhay Green)
Founded in the first half of the 18th century. See a lengthy article on its history.
New Jewish Cemetery (established in 1868) is located at 49 Gifford Place, off Ford Park Road, Plymouth PL3 4JA
SCOTLAND
GLASGOW
Home to the largest Jewish community in Scotland, with four still-active historic synagogues.
129 Hill Street, Glasgow, G3 6UB
+44 (0)141 332 4151
The oldest synagogue in Scotland, built in 1879 and completely refurbished in 1998. The only purpose-built synagogue in 19th century Scotland, it was designed by local architect John McLeod in a style described as “Romanesque-cum-Byzantine with Moorish touches.” He was assisted by Nathan Solomon Joseph, who worked on synagogues in London and Liverpool. The building is a Victorian A Listed structure. It has a tall, barrel-vaulted sanctuary, with a women’s gallery and large, ornate Ark, like a small temple.
Tours can be arranged through the synagogue office. The building is used for religious services and also houses the Scottish Jewish Archives Center.
