The East End of London has a long-standing Jewish heritage. As with so many other immigrant groups, it was to the dockside slums east of the Tower that Jewish émigrés came... and settled, and grew, and thrived, and from which they eventually moved on. On Sunday I joined a guided walk round Jewish Tower Hamlets, as part of the East London Heritage Trails weekend, to try to discover what remains here. And it's not much.
There used to be nearly two hundred synagogues in the East End, and now there are only four. We began our walk outside one of the survivors - the Congregation of Jacob on the Commercial Road. I'd not noticed the building before, hemmed in between a pound shop and a travel agent, and with a bold black Star of David perched on the apex of the roof. The building was once a cobblers, transformed in the 1920s with an Arts and Crafts interior, featuring high balconies and side benches gathered around a central space for worship. At least that's how it looks in the photos. The synagogue hadn't opened by the time our walk arrived, and our guide Clive told us he'd probably not have been welcomed inside anyway. I'm sorry I didn't return later for a proper look.
Much of the rest of the two hour tour featured vanished locations once at the heart of Jewish life. A famous Yiddish theatre, now demolished with a Tesco Express on the site. A kosher street market, now little more than a run-down anonymous alley. A top Jewish school, long since escaped to the suburbs and replaced by an Asian convenience store. There's a new crowd of immigrants here these days, and streets that were once fiercely Jewish are now very definitely a Bangladeshi stronghold. Indeed, little expressed this transformation better than a refrigerated lorry which parked up beside us in Cannon Street Road. As Clive pointed out various former Jewish businesses, the driver emerged with a bloodied sheep's carcass slung over his shoulder and lugged it past us to the halal butcher round the corner.
The highlight of the tour was another synagogue, this time on Nelson Street and with the opportunity to venture inside. I'd not brought anything to cover my head so I thought I might be abandoned outside, but thankfully skull caps for visitors were available. This visit was a first for me, and it was fascinating to experience a very different place of worship. Again there were balconies for the ladies and ground floor galleries for the gentlemen, this time set beneath a light blue neo-Georgian roof. In the centre was a raised dais, and to the east two carved lions guarded the vault in the wall containing several golden scrolls of scripture [enlarge photo]. One of the synagogue's elderly worshippers spent a good half hour explaining what goes on here, and a little of the building's history, and just how much money they need to repair the roof. Most astonishingly he told of the steady decline in the number of worshippers, now reduced to little more than a quorum of 10, thanks to a Federation rule which permits only local Jews to join the congregation. The average age of the worshippers here is currently around 80-something, and as the elders die off there's a genuine risk that no Jewish East Enders will be around to replace them. A diminished congregation for the weekly service means that the building is increasingly likely to be sold off for flats, and one of the last survivors of a long heritage would be lost forever. A humbling visit.
I went on a second Heritage Trail walk in the afternoon, this time exploring the area around Mile End station. There's a surprisingly high number of intriguing locations in the vicinity, as you'll remember from my High Street 2012 chronicles. But our guide saved the best until last, a spot I'd never previously encountered, tucked away inside the Queen Mary's campus. Here was a field-sized fragment of an old Jewish cemetery, hemmed in on all sides by hedges and university buildings, containing around 2000 flat-topped graves. There used to be four times as many, but university expansion required several thousand bodies to be disinterred and relocated to a burial ground in Essex. The remainder created an impressive enough sight [enlarge photo]. As a rare treat the gate of the Nuevo Cemetery was specially unlocked on Sunday allowing access inside, and it was strangely moving to be able to stand alone amongst so many long dead generations. Hopefully this space, at the very least, will be properly protected against future development. The Jewish East End - visit now while evidence remains.
• The East London Heritage Trails booklet is a fantastic 76-page colour guide to the secret heritage of Tower Hamlets. There's a wealth of historical information inside, as well as 13 short self-guided walks you can follow at your leisure. It took me three attempts to obtain a free copy from a local library (Whitechapel Idea Store finally managed to locate their booklets in a box behind the helpdesk, but only after I'd been sent on a 15 minute wild goose chase around the building). Alternatively you could send off a stamped addressed envelope or, for a virtual copy, download the booklet as a pdf. Recommended.
There used to be nearly two hundred synagogues in the East End, and now there are only four. We began our walk outside one of the survivors - the Congregation of Jacob on the Commercial Road. I'd not noticed the building before, hemmed in between a pound shop and a travel agent, and with a bold black Star of David perched on the apex of the roof. The building was once a cobblers, transformed in the 1920s with an Arts and Crafts interior, featuring high balconies and side benches gathered around a central space for worship. At least that's how it looks in the photos. The synagogue hadn't opened by the time our walk arrived, and our guide Clive told us he'd probably not have been welcomed inside anyway. I'm sorry I didn't return later for a proper look.
The highlight of the tour was another synagogue, this time on Nelson Street and with the opportunity to venture inside. I'd not brought anything to cover my head so I thought I might be abandoned outside, but thankfully skull caps for visitors were available. This visit was a first for me, and it was fascinating to experience a very different place of worship. Again there were balconies for the ladies and ground floor galleries for the gentlemen, this time set beneath a light blue neo-Georgian roof. In the centre was a raised dais, and to the east two carved lions guarded the vault in the wall containing several golden scrolls of scripture [enlarge photo]. One of the synagogue's elderly worshippers spent a good half hour explaining what goes on here, and a little of the building's history, and just how much money they need to repair the roof. Most astonishingly he told of the steady decline in the number of worshippers, now reduced to little more than a quorum of 10, thanks to a Federation rule which permits only local Jews to join the congregation. The average age of the worshippers here is currently around 80-something, and as the elders die off there's a genuine risk that no Jewish East Enders will be around to replace them. A diminished congregation for the weekly service means that the building is increasingly likely to be sold off for flats, and one of the last survivors of a long heritage would be lost forever. A humbling visit.
I went on a second Heritage Trail walk in the afternoon, this time exploring the area around Mile End station. There's a surprisingly high number of intriguing locations in the vicinity, as you'll remember from my High Street 2012 chronicles. But our guide saved the best until last, a spot I'd never previously encountered, tucked away inside the Queen Mary's campus. Here was a field-sized fragment of an old Jewish cemetery, hemmed in on all sides by hedges and university buildings, containing around 2000 flat-topped graves. There used to be four times as many, but university expansion required several thousand bodies to be disinterred and relocated to a burial ground in Essex. The remainder created an impressive enough sight [enlarge photo]. As a rare treat the gate of the Nuevo Cemetery was specially unlocked on Sunday allowing access inside, and it was strangely moving to be able to stand alone amongst so many long dead generations. Hopefully this space, at the very least, will be properly protected against future development. The Jewish East End - visit now while evidence remains.
