Jewish Heritage UK - Survey of the Jewish Built Heritage

Measured survey in progress at Plymouth Synagogue, Devon (1762)
(Copyright © Survey of the Jewish Built Heritage Photo: Andrew Petersen)
Plymouth Synagogue is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in the English-speaking world.

The Survey of the Jewish Built Heritage in the United Kingdom and Ireland was begun in 1997 under the auspices of the Jewish Memorial Council with the support of (amongst other donors) English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the British Academy and (since 2004) the Arts & Humanities Research Council through the University of Manchester, to record and research the vanishing architectural heritage of the Jewish communities of Britain and Ireland.

The Survey is a thematic building recording project covering all Jewish monuments and sites that date from before the Second World War (1939). Mediaeval and modern buildings and sites, both sacred and secular, are covered by the Survey, including purpose-built synagogues, Mikvaot [Jewish ritual baths] and cemeteries, as well as Jewish schools, hospitals, soup kitchens, communal offices and meeting halls.

Since an initial “pilot project” in the East End of London in the summer of 1996, some 350 sites have been visited by the UK Survey in nearly 100 towns and cities across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic and the Channel Islands. The on-site record includes the compilation of detailed field notes, sketch plans and drawings, and both internal and external photography in 35mm format. For selected historic buildings, a full measured survey has been carried out and architectural drawings executed in accordance with published English Heritage [RCHME] Drawings Conventions.

Priority has been given to “emergency recording cases” i.e. the documentation of sites that are in physical danger of disappearance or radical alteration, particularly synagogues faced with imminent closure. The recording work has been carried out by Dr Sharman Kadish, assisted mainly by two part-time professional field workers, practising architect Barbara Bowman and archaeologist Dr Andrew Petersen, a published expert on Islamic architecture. The Survey has also attracted an element of volunteer labour, notably student projects in the Department of Architecture at the University of Huddersfield.

The fieldwork phase has been preceded and is followed up by extensive library and archive research into the architectural history of every site. This research has, in particular, brought to light rare visual material on Jewish buildings and sites that no longer exist, having been destroyed by redevelopment or enemy action. In co-operation with repositories and private collectors, surviving historic photographs, maps and architectural plans are being photographed and scanned into the Image Archive which forms part of the Survey Database.

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