Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Jews Synagogue (Demolished),
Temple Street,
Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church did NOT have a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1786, but we understand it was closed in 1871.

The Jews Synagogue was situated at approximately the mid-point of a line drawn between St Thomas's Church, in Thomas Street, and Holy Cross (Temple Church), set back behind other buildings in Temple Street. It is shown on Ashmead's Maps of Bristol of 1855 as a rectangular building, with a rounded front, and would appear to have been reached through an alleyway from Temple Street.

John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (1887) provides the information that the first synagogue in Temple Street was opened in 1786, in a building formerly the Weavers' Hall, but at the time, a Methodist chapel - this is, apparently, recorded in Barrett's history of the city. The following century, "on the 18th August, 1842, the Jews opened a new synagogue near the same spot, having purchased and decorated a chapel built for the Society of Friends, but which had been for some years hired by the Wesleyans, who were thus twice succeeded by the Jews". The Weavers' Hall, again vacated, was bought soon after by the authorities of Temple parish to be converted into a school.

The Weavers' Hall was, I assume, on the opposite (east) side of Temple Street, south of Temple Church - near to the Weavers' Arms, marked on Ashmead's Maps of Bristol of 1828. It became available to the Jewish community, according to Latimer, because "the Weavers' Company in 1786 had become so diminished in numbers that they ceased to maintain a hall". The "Quaker Meeting" can be seen on Rocque's Map of 1750.

The building was, presumably, vacated with the present day synagogue, in Park Row, was opened in 1871, and its site now lies beneath Victoria Street. The original line of Temple Street, also, has been changed, so the two no longer run so close together.

Denomination

Now or formerly Jewish.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church was located at OS grid reference ST5923672731. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Jews Synagogue (Demolished), Bristol shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Bristol shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)