| Cemetery Description: |
Prestwich Village Jewish Cemetery, Bury New Road, Manchester, England. 291 burials total.
"Part of the great synagogue, Hidden behind a recently renewed red brick wall, fronted by a small section of grassed parkland along Bury New Road, in the heart of Prestwich, is the 2nd oldest Jewish Cemetery in Manchester (after the previous burial ground in Pendleton) belongiong to the 2nd largest Jewish community in Britain.
As the Jewish population grew, with immigration from Poland, Spain, Holland, Germany & Portugal, and with some being rich merchants such as Ralph Straus who lived at The Holme, the cemetery land was purchased by the Old Hebrew Congregation and the cemetery opened in 1841, along with a mortuary building with accomodation on a second floor. This replaced the existing 1794 burial ground in Pendleton (which was 12 by 15 yards and contains just 29 burials).
The original mortuaryhouse was demolished in 1887, as it was deemed unsuitable for a residence, and a house of prayer constructed instead along with a mortuary. To the South of the cemetery Sharp Street houses were built on the field and to the North, Albion Mill had expanded.
Between 1841 and 1887, many noted and wealthy members of early Hebrew community were interred at Prestwich. The most prominent of which had a section of the graveyard fenced off, and dedicated to the Behrens family
As of 1905, Rev. Nicholls recorded that several graves were were without headstones, only marked with numbered wooden crosses. The graveyard contains between 300-500 burials, with additions rare after 1884, the last burial is stated to have been in 1914, and it was finally closed to the public in 1951, when the garden of rest to its front was created for the Festival of Britain."
Cemetery overview
Another overvoew of cemetery
Third cemetery overview
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