Norwich Jewish Community

City of Norwich

The historic city of Norwich, situated on the river Wensum in East Anglia, has a population of over 125,000. It was a county borough until 1974, when it became a local government district of the administrative county of Norfolk.

Norwich Jewish Community

There was a medieval Jewish community in Norwich. In modern times, the first Jewish seettlement appears to date from about 1789, with an organised Jewish community from about 1813.

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that exist or existed in Norwich:

Norwich Hebrew Congregation Synagogue
Norwich Liberal Jewish Community (formerly the Progressive Jewish Community of East Anglia)

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Norwich Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

"Norwich" from The Rise of Provincial Jewry by Cecil Roth, 1950, covering the period to 1840. Available on JCR-UK as part of the Susser Archive.)
Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain - Papers for a conference at University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6th July 1975.
- Paper on Norwich, including a paper by Harry Levine - considered a continuation to the above works by Cecil Roth.
- Chief Rabbi's Questionnaire of 1845 - Norwich Congregational Data and Norwich Educational Data.
Norwich Medieval Jewish Community.
Bibliography.
Norwich Jewish Heritage Sites.
See also articles relating the Norwich Jewish Cemeteries (below).

on Third Party websites

"Norwich" by Joseph Jacobs, Jewish Encyclopedia 1906.

Other Norwich Jewish Institutions & Organisations
(Formed by 1900*)

Educational & Theological

Hebrew School (founded 1890)
Sabbath Classes (founded 1895)

Other Institutions & Organisations

Chevra Kadisha (did not appear in 1896 Jewish Year Book)
Jewish Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society (founded by 1896)
Chovevi Zion Tent (founded by 1900)

* As listed in the Jewish Year Books 1896 & 1900.

Norwich Jewish Cemetery Information

The following are the known Jewish cemeteries that existed in Norwich:

Norwich Medieval Jewish Burial Ground

Exact whereabouts unknown, but close to the ancient synagogue. In use from some time after 1177 until 1290.
Norwich Old Jews Burial Ground, Horns Lane, corner Ber Street (near Mariners' Lane), Norfolk.

Only vestiges remain of this cemetery, which was opened in about 1750 and closed in 1826. The exact location (at the rear of 34 Ber Street) is uncertain.

See Letter to the Editor (on JCR-UK), regarding this burial grounds in Norwich, which appeared in the Jewish Chronicle of 22 April 1842
Quakers Lane Jews' Burial Ground (also known as Gildencroft Jewish Cemetery), St Crispin's Road (corner Talbot Square), off Quakers Lane Norwich

Opened in 1813 and in use until 1854. No records have survived and none of the surviving headstones are legible.
Norwich City Cemetery, Jewish Section (also known as Earlham Road Jewish Cemetery), Bowthorpe Road, Norwich

This cemetery, of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation, dates from 1856 and is still in use. It is accessible from Earlham Road.

(For additional information, see also IAJGS Cemetery Project - Norwich)

Norwich Jewish Population Data
1895	50	(The Jewish Year Book 1896)
1900	158	(The Jewish Year Book 1901)
1934	133	(The Jewish Year Book 1935)
1944	150	(The Jewish Year Book 1945)
1955	135	(The Jewish Year Book 1956)
1965	170	(The Jewish Year Book 1966)
1990	170	(The Jewish Year Book 1991)
2004	239	(The Jewish Year Book 2005)

Jewish Congregations in Norfolk

Jewish Communities of England home page

Contact JCR-UK Webmaster:
jcr-ukwebmaster@jgsgb.org.uk
(Note: This is to contact JCR-UK, not the above Community or Congregation)