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Manchester,
Higher Crumpsall Synagogue Pendleton & Dickinson 1928-29
Grade
II Listed inter-war synagogue with a well-designed worship space and high quality fixtures and fittings
of marble, brass, oak and fine stained glass. Despite an award
of £130,000
towards essential structural repairs under the English Heritage
and Heritage Lottery Fund Joint Places of Worship Repair
Grants
Scheme,
this synagogue, dubbed when it was built the “White
Synagogue” on account of its polished stone-clad façade,
remains threatened by both neglect and redundancy. Ironically,
unlike some older historic synagogues, it is situated barely
five minutes walk away from one of the fastest-growing Jewish
communities in Europe. Large
architecturally significant synagogues and the Anglo-Jewish
musical tradition with which they are associated have fallen out
of fashion. Synagogue
services with trained Hazan [cantor] and choir, a feature
at Higher Crumpsall, are threatened with extinction. A quite
modest amount of match funding must be raised in order to fulfil
the conditions of Higher Crumpsall’s Repair Grant. Part of
this capital could be raised by sensible amalgamation with
another declining congregation, and ultimately with several
others, in the neighbourhood, on the Higher Crumpsall site.
Jewish Telegraph article
PDF file (1.76MB)
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