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Page created: 21 May 2004
Latest revision or update: 2 December 2020
Town of
Penzance
Penzance, a port near the western end of
Cornwall’s south coast in southeast England, has a population of about 20,000.
It was a municipal borough until 1974, when it was
merged with neighbouring localities to form the local government
(non-metropolitan) district of Penwith within the county of Cornwall. In April
2009, the district of Penwith and all other local government districts in
Cornwall were abolished, and Cornwall became a unitary authority.
Penzance
Jewish Community
The Penzance Jewish community was founded
in the middle of the
eighteenth century and had cesed to exist by the beginning of twentieth century.
Penzance is only
known to have had one synagogue:
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Congregation Data |
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Name: |
Penzance Jewish Congregation |
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Address: |
1 New Street (rear of the Star Inn 119
Market Street), Penzance TR18 2LD.
First purpose built synagogue constructed here in 1768, synagogue
rebuilt in 1807.
The Star Inn, including the former synagogue, is a Grade II Listed Building (number 1143981),
designated on 7 February 1974 (most recent amendment 21 July 2015).
View description
on Historic England website. |
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Current Status: |
Synagogue sold in 1906. Community dissolved by early 1900's |
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Date Founded: |
Congregation founded about 1750. |
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Ritual: |
Askenazi Orthodox |
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Ministers: |
See
List of Religious Officials of the Penzance Congregation |
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Membership Data: |
1845 - 11 ba'ale batim (Chief
Rabbi's Questionnaire)
1845 - 30 appropriated seats, 51 individual members (C. Roth,
The Rise of
Provincial Jewry)
1852 - 6 seatholders (Board of Deputies
return)
1860 - 5 seatholders (Board of Deputies return)
1870 - 4 seatholders (Board of Deputies return)
1880 - 4 seatholders (Board of Deputies
return)
1892 - 6 seatholders (Board of Deputies return) |
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On-line Articles
and Other Material
relating to the Penzance Jewish Community
on JCR-UK
on third parties' websites
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Penzance Jewish Cemetery Information
Penzance Jewish cemeteries:
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Penzance Old Jewish Cemetery,
off Leskinnick Terrace, Penzance
TR18 2HB (accessed by way of a passageway between 19 and 20
Leskinnick Terrace). This Georgian cemetery, dating from at least the 1740's,
has some
50 identifiable headstones and much of the cemetery is
Grade II listed. The last burial of a member of the
Penzance Congregation was in 1900, although members of
the family of the last rabbi, Isaac Bischofswerder,
continued to be buried here until 1911. There have been
two subsequent burials, in 1964 and 1998, long after the
local Jewish community ceased to exist. Restoration
work, partly funded by a grant from Heritage Lottery
Fund, commenced in 2015 and a ceremony of rededication
of the restored cemetery took place on 18 May 2016. The
cemetery is one of the disused cemeteries administered by the Board of Deputies of
British Jews and is maintained by Penzance Town Council.
The boundary walls with the remains of the Bet Torah and 14 monuments at the
cemetery is a Grade II Listed Building,
listed on 23 February 2004 (most recent amendment 1 October
2010) (number 1392260).
See Historic
England Listing & Description.
Articles and other material on JCR-UK:
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Paul Cemetery, Paul, near Penzance. One
of three municipal cemeteries in which the Cornish authorities have allotted to
Kehillat Kernow
special areas specifically for Jewish burials.
(For additional information, see also
IAJGS Cemetery Project - Penzance)
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Jewish Congregations in
Cornwall
Jewish Communities of England home page
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