Gateshead Jewish Community

Town of Gateshead

Gateshead, with a population of about 190,000, lies on the south side of the river Tyne in North East England, across the river from Newcastle upon Tyne.  The metropolitan borough of Gateshead, which had been formed in 1974, became a unitary authority in 1986 when the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, of which it formed part, was abolished except for ceremonial purposes.  Until 1974, Gateshead (covering an area less than today) was a county borough and historically part of County Durham.

The Gateshead Jewish Community and Congregations

The earliest Jewish settlement in Gateshead is believed to date from the middle of the nineteenth century, although the first synagogue was not established until about 1883. The Jewish community of Gateshead is unique among provincial communities in the UK, being almost exclusively ultra-Orthodox and its Yeshivas are probably the principal centres of Jewish learning in Britain.