the former

Neath Synagogue

Neath, Neath Port Talbot, South Wales

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.

Town of Neath

The town of Neath (in Welsh: Castell-nedd), with a population of about 20,000, is close to the mouth of the river Neath (or Nedd), some 10 miles to the north-east of Swansea and 40 miles west of Cardiff.

Until 1974, Neath was a municipal borough of Neath in the county of Glamorganshire. From 1974 until 1996, it was part of the district of Neath in the county of West Glamorgan. Since 1996, it has been within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot - a unitary authority (in the ceremonial, or preserved, county of West Glamorgan).

The Jewish Community

A small number of Jewish families resided in Neath from at least the 1790s until the middle years of the twentieth century. There was a Jewish congregation in Neath in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but there is very little record of organised communal life in the town during this period.

Congregation Data
Name:	Neath Synagogue
Formation and Address:	The congregation was founded in 1867 with the erection of a purpose-built synagogue at Wind and Water Street, near the castle walls (behind the Moose Hall), Neath, built on the property of Lazarus Samuel and entirely at his expense.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾ (Lazarus Samuel, 1814-1874, born Warsaw, a jeweller and then pawnbroker in Neath, is buried at the Jewish cemetery in Townhill, Swansea.) The foundation stone of the synagogue was laid by the benefactor's wife on 14 April 1867⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾ and the synagogue had capacity for 30 congregants.^(iv) A synagogue was well fitted and relatively ornate and a detailed description is contained in a letter from Henry Marks to The Jewish Chronicle published on 22 May 1868.
Closure:	By 1880, although Lazarus Samuel had by then died, the synagogue was still "open once a year for New Year and Pentecost(sic)."^(v) It would therefore have closed sometime after 1880.
Ritual:	Ashkenazi Orthodox
Affiliation:	The congregation was an unaffiliated provincial congregation.
Ministers and Lay Officers:	None known.
Registration District:	Neath Port Talbot, since 1 April 1996^(viii) - Link to Register Office website
Cemetery Information:	There was no Jewish cemetery in Neath, the nearest being at Swansea.

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to the Neath Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

Two Unknown Welsh Synagogues, and an Oxford Connection, an article by Harold Pollins. Originally published in Oxford Menorah issue no. 182, Chanukah 2006/5767.
Press clipping from The Jewish Chronicle of 22 May 1868, entitled A Synagogue at Neath.
Bibliography.

on Third Party websites

The Jews of Neath by Martyn J Griffiths, on the Neath Antiquarian Society website.

Notable Jewish Connections with Neath

Rev Leslie Hardman, MBE, HCF (1913-2008), a communal rabbi in Hendon, northwest London, and the first Jewish British Army chaplain to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, was born in Glynneath, a small town approximately 11 miles northeast of Neath.
Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin, CH (1889-1972), elected Labour MP for Peckham in southeast London in 1936, and Minister of Town and Country Planning from 1945 to 1950, who was raised to the peerage in 1950, was living in Neath in 1918. Father of Sam and John Silkin who were both also Labour MPs. The legal firm named after him, established in 1950 in Peckham, as "Lewis Silkin and Partners" by John Silkin, his son, today (2025) employs over 500 people.
Samuel (Sam) Silkin, Baron Silkin of Dulwich, PC, QC (1918-1988), born in Neath, was the Labour MP for Dulwich, south London, from 1964 to 1983, and served as Attorney General from 1974 to 1979. Second son of Lewis Silkin and older brother of John Silkin, also a Labour MP, who was born in London.

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) and (ii) Reserved.
(iii) Letter to The Jewish Chronicle published 22 May 1868. ↵
(iv) Report of 1875, referred to in The Jews of Neath, on the Neath Antiquarian Society website. ↵
(v) Report in The Jewish Chronicle of 17 September 1880, which read:
NEATH - The synagogue at Neath was opened for the New Year, prayers being read by two gentlemen who were specially engaged. It will also be opened for Pentecost (sic). This little synagogue was built by the late Mr. Lazarus Samuel, of Neath, in 1868, and is opened once a year for New Year and Pentecost(sic) by the family of the late Mr. Samuel, who welcome any coreligionist that should be in the town upon those days. ↵
(vi) and (vii) Reserved.
(viii) Previous Registration Districts: Neath from 1 July 1837 to 1 October 1970; West Glamorgan from 1 October 1970 to 1 April 1974; and Neath from 1 April 1974 to 1 April 1966. All records would now be held by the current office. ↵

Former Jewish Communities in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot home page
(including Population Data from 21st Century UK Censuses)

Jewish Congregations in the former county of Glamorganshire

Jewish Congregations in the former administrative county of West Glamorgan

Jewish Congregations in Wales, listed according to current unitary authorities

Jewish Communities & Congregations in Wales home page

Page created: 9 October 2005
Data significantly expanded and notes added: 4 March 2025
Page most recently amended: 9 March 2025

Research by David Shulman, Harold Pollins and Steven Jaffe
Formatting by David Shulman

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