Boundary walls to Exeter Jewish cemetery

Summary

Boundary walls to Jewish burial ground, first built in 1757 and extended in 1807, 1827 and 1851; restored in 2019.

Reasons for Designation

The boundary walls to Exeter Jewish cemetery, which was founded in 1757 and extended throughout the C19, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* the Jewish cemetery survives as one of only 25 cemeteries nationally which were established in the C18;
* the north and east walls are likely to contain C18 fabric;

Historic interest:
* the various extensions to the cemetery reflect the growth of Exeter’s Jewish community from the C18 and particularly throughout the C19;
* for its well-recorded history, both in the form of paper records and extant survival;
* as a representation of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the UK;
* it is one of the few surviving dedicated Jewish cemeteries, dating to before the standard inclusion of a Jewish section in public cemeteries.

History

The first record of a Jewish community in Exeter dates to the C12 when a burial ground was recorded. A century later, hostility began to grow, leading to the anti-Jewish rulings of the Synod of Exeter in 1287, shortly followed by the expulsion of Jews from England by Edward I in 1290. Following this there were officially no Jewish communities in the country for almost 400 years. From 1655 the initial settlers were Sephardi merchants of Spanish and Portuguese descent, joined by Ashkenazi Jews from Germany and Holland. The first European Jew to reappear in Exeter in 1724 was a language teacher from Padua and others followed. In 1757 Exeter’s small Jewish community established their own burial ground; this preceded the founding of a synagogue (listed Grade II*), built in the old city in 1764 on a plot leased by Kitty Jacobs and Abraham Ezekiel.

On 18 May 1757 a plot of land for the burial ground on Magdalen Street was leased to Ezekiel by St Mary Magdalen lepers’ hospital. The plot measured 24m by 7m and was leased for 99 years, or the Devonian-tradition of three people’s lives, at an annual rent of ten shillings and sixpence. Ezekiel was required to build a 2.5m high boundary wall of brick, stone or cob, topped with a coping, around the plot. The lease was revised in January 1803, and then surrendered in 1807. A new lease included an additional plot, 12m by 6m, on the east side of the burial ground creating an L-shaped plot. The rent was doubled. In 1827 the lease was once again surrendered to enable the burial ground to be consolidated with the addition of the plot to the north-east. The burial ground was then in the possession of the Elders of the Jewish Congregation, and with the new lease the rent was again increased.

An indenture was issued in 1851 for the burial ground and also extensions to its west and south, more than doubling the size of the plot; a new 100-year lease was negotiated. The rent had increased again, and the congregation also paid a fee of £200 for any future expenses or rent arrears. This was put into action in 1951 when the expiration of the lease went unnoticed. During proposals for an inner-bypass scheme in the early 1970s the congregation discovered that they no longer owned the burial ground, but in December 1977 they purchased it for £750 from the successors of St Mary Magdalen Hospital, Exeter City Council.

The cemetery was extensively repaired in the 1980s when new gates were fitted and the ohel rebuilt (the ohel is not of special interest), and the boundary walls were restored in 2019. The congregation now has an active membership of around sixty and burials occasionally take place, although since 1992 the congregation also have had the use of a burial ground at Exwick Cemetery. Exeter has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the UK, and the second oldest synagogue outside of London.

Details

Boundary walls to Jewish burial ground, first built in 1757 and extended in 1807, 1827 and 1851; restored in 2019.

MATERIALS: the boundary walls are of red sandstone, red brick and buff sandstone.

DESCRIPTION: the walls largely enclose the burial ground on four sides, with access from Magdalen Street through an arch within the northern wall. The arch has sandstone imposts and a keystone and is fitted with metal gates which lead directly into the ohel (the ohel is not of special interest). Red sandstone blocks are used as a plinth along the northern wall, possibly evidence of the first boundary wall (1757), and the wall here has a flat coping. The eastern boundary wall has brick pilasters, and a section to the south appears to have been replaced with modern fencing.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

417485

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Kadish, S, Jewish Heritage in England, an Architectural Guide, (2006), 94

Websites
Exeter Memories: Jews Burial Ground, Magdalen Street, accessed 29/06/2023 from http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_places/jewscemetery.php
Exeter Synagogue Archive: History of the Jews’ Burial Ground at Exeter, accessed 29/06/2023 from https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/exe/history/groundshistory.htm
Exeter Synagogue, accessed 29/06/2023 from http://exetersynagogue.org.uk/

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