Bristol Jewish Cemetery Records

Introduction

Bristol is one of the oldest provincial Jewish communities in the United Kingdom. There are details of a Jewish community in the city dating back to pre-expulsion times in the 12th and 13th centuries. Over the last 270 years at least four Jewish cemeteries are known to have been established in Bristol: -

Barton Road Cemetery, St Phillips

The Barton Road Cemetery in St. Philips is believed to be the first in Bristol following the resettlement of Jews in England after their expulsion in 1290. (There had been a medieval Jewish cemetery in Bristol in use some time from 1177 until 1290.) There is documentary evidence to suggest that it was first established between 1740 and 1750, although the earliest identified tombstone dates from 1762. Because of the restrictions on Jews owning land it was leased for a number of years, finally being acquired by the Bristol Jewish Community on 8 August 1859. It continued in use until the early 1900s with the final burial taking place there in 1944. A fire in an adjoining building in 1901 resulted in one of the Cemetery walls being demolished by firemen to gain access to the blazing building. As a consequence, a number of tombstones were toppled and graves flattened. The stones were subsequently removed from where they had fallen and laid against the boundary wall without any record of their original location. There are over 220 burials in this cemetery but only appeoximately 160 have been positively identified.

The layout of the Barton Road Cemetery, including the row assignments, can be viewed here.

Great Gardens (Temple) Cemetery, Rose Street

In 1811 Lazarus Jacobs, an eminent glass maker, set aside part of his Great Gardens dwelling in Rose Street for use as a private burial ground. This burial ground was purchased from Isaac Jacobs by Moses Abraham in 1830 and, during the mid to late 1800s, was used for a relatively small number of burials, the majority of burials during that period being in the St Philips Cemetery. The Great Gardens site was compulsorily purchased by the Great Western Railway in 1913 to extend the Goods Yard at Temple Meads but it was not until September 1924 that 27 graves and tombstones were removed from there to be re-interred in the Ridgway (Fishponds) Cemetery under the supervision of Mr. M. Nathan. See the document on the removal of remains from Rose Street here. Only about 50% of these tombstones remain partially legible.

Ridgway (Fishponds) Cemetery, Eastville

The Ridgway Cemetery was purchased in several stages, the first section being acquired in the late 1890s (the first burial was in 1898). The second section was purchased in the late 1920s with the present prayer house being dedicated in 1933. In 1924, the 27 graves and tombstones were removed from the Great Garden Cemetery to be re-interred in the Ridgway Cemetery. The present prayer house was dedicated in 1933. This cemetery continues in use today, but mainly for reserved plots. There are approximately 680 burials at this cemetery included in the Database until December 2024.

The layout of the Ridgway Cemetery, including the row assignments, can be viewed here.

Notable burials at this cemetery include:

Memorial Woodlands Cemetery, Earthcott Green

By the year 2000, there were very few unused grave sites available for new burials at Ridgway Cemetery. The Bristol Jewish Burial Society (Chevrah Chadisha) acquired access to a section at the Memorial Woodlands Cemetery, Earthcott Green, for its future burials. Other than reserved graves in the Ridgway Cemetery, all burials since then (18) have taken place at this cemetery.

The layout of the Memorial Woodlands Cemetery, including the row assignments, can be viewed here.

The Bristol Cemeteries' Database Project

The Bristol Jewish Cemetery Project was undertaken by volunteers from of the local Jewish Genealogy Group with the dual aims of providing the Jewish Burial Society (Chevrah Chadisha) with a comprehensive set of records (index and photographs) for its Cemeteries and submitting this information to the Jewish Cemetery Project.

The work was carried out initially during the summer and autumn of 1997 by Sheila and Alan Tobias, Judith Samuel, Michael Hill, Audrey Greenwood, Marlene Sutton, Sam Silverman, Sam Nirenberg and Rabbi Hillel Simon.

Information from the tombstones was supplemented from the following sources:

In a number of cases, tombstones were identified by matching the Hebrew names and/or dates given on them with those recorded in the death register. Also, the Samuel-Susser listing proved invaluable in verifying the detail and location of a number of fallen or eroded tombstones in the St Philips cemetery.

Wherever possible, details of both date of death and age have been extracted from Bristol Chevrah Chadisha's holding of Death Certificates as these were considered to be the more accurate information source.

The Database

Details of all burials are available on this database, including headstone images.

To view the burial details for an individual select the appropriate surname group below, and then select the individual from the secondary drop-down list. To obtain an enlarged display of the headstone, click on its image. To view the Burial Certificate, click on the 'Y' if given in the Cert box.

The information provided in the database gives for each individual:

Some general views of the Ridgway Cemetery are also provided and may be selected in a similar manner to the individual burials as described above.

This update to the Bristol Cemeteries database brings the records up to December 2024. It adds details of the new Memorial Woodlands Cemetery and details of more than 60 burials that have taken place in both the Ridgway and Memorial Woodlands cemeteries since the previous update in 2003. There are however, no additional headstone images yet available. The opportunity was taken to review and enhance, where possible, the headstone images previously provided.

A summary of the numbers of graves, identified burials and headstone images is given below

SEARCH SOLELY IN THE BRISTOL CEMETERIES DATABASE

 
  Search the All-UK Database (which includes the Bristol Cemeteries Records) 

This database, together with the tombstone images, are provided with the permission of the Bristol Jewish Burial Society (Chevrah Chadisha).

The comprehensive survey of the Bristol Jewish Cemeteries carried out in 2024 by Alan Elkan, Chairman and Treasurer of the Bristol Chevrah Chadishah, is greatly appreciated.