Old Synagogue at Canterbury

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The Old Synagogue at Canterbury is considered to be the best example of an Egyptian Revival synagogue. ^[1] The earliest record of a Jewish community in Canterbury dates from 1160. The community is known to have been prosperous and to have traded in corn (grain) and wool as well as banking. Despite pogroms in 1261 and 1264, the community flourished until the Edict of Expulsion, given by Edward I of England in 1290. It's presence is commemorated in the street name, Jewry Lane.

A modern Jewish Community is known to have existed in Canterbury by 1720. The present building was designed by Canterbury architect, a Christian gentleman named Hezekiah Marshall, and constructed in 1846-8 to replace a 1763 building torn down to make place for the new railroad built by the South Eastern Railway Company. The cornerstone was laid by Sir Moses Montefiore in September 1847. A pair of columns with lotus capitals flank the doorway of the simple building, 40' by 27' by 30' high. The building is made of Portland cement, which gives the appearance of granite. There is a central bimah, the columns of which boast lotus-leaf capitals, and a women's balcony supported by Egyptian-style obelisks. The mikveh was described as "a miniature brick-faced temple set in the garden behind the synagogue."^[2] The site is known to have been a hospice fo the Knights Templar in medieval times. ^[3]

The Old Synagogue now serves only occasionally for Jewish services of worship. It is maintained and used as a recital hall by The King's School, Canterbury‎. ^{[4] [5]}

Although several synagogues were built in the Egyptian revial style in the early nineteenth century, only two others are known to survive, the Hobart Synagogue and the Launceston synagogue, both in Tasmania.

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