Conveyance of freehold land adjoining the Highfield Road Cemetery, between Mountjoy Limited and Mr Moses Jacob Cohen and others, Cardiff, 14 March 1933

Description

The conveyance is dated 14 March 1933, and is entitled, "Conveyance of freehold land adjoining the Jews[sic] Cemetery situate[sic] in Highfield Road in the city of Cardiff". The conveyance is between Mountjoy Limited and Mr Moses Jacob Cohen and others. It includes terms of agreement and a plan.

The plan is drawn at 4166 feet to one inch and shows the existing cemetery and the extension. The cemetery is bordered by Highfield Road to the north, Celyn Fach smallholding to the east and the Great Western Railway (previously the Rhymney Railway) to the west.

The Jewish Cemetery in Highfield Road was created when the second Marquess of Bute donated land in 1841, although the first burial seems to be that of Abraham Lyons on 8 July 1852.

The Cardiff United Synagogue was established in 1942 when the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation and the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation were united into a single organisation. The community dates back to the arrival of Levi Marks and his family in the 1810s.

After meeting in various places, the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation built a synagogue in East Terrace in 1858. The congregation outgrew these premises, and a new synagogue was opened on Cathedral Road in 1897. In the late 1890s, a group of recent immigrants left the "Englisher shul" to form the "foreigners' shul", formally known as the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation. They worshipped at Edward Place, then moved to Windsor Place in 1918.

After the 1942 reunification, the Cardiff United Synagogue continued to use both the Windsor Place and the Cathedral Road synagogues until 1955 when the lease on the former expired, and a new synagogue was built on Ty-Gwyn Road in Penylan. The Cathedral Road synagogue was in use until 1988. The Penylan synagogue was replaced in 2003 by the current premises in Cyncoed Gardens.

Sources:

JCR-UK: Jewish Communities & Records, Cardiff United Synagogue, Cardiff, Wales (2020) https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/card/index.htm [accessed 1 August 2023]

Jewish History Association of South Wales/Cymdeithas Hanes Iddewig De Cymru (JHASW/CHIDC), Interactive Trails: Highfield Road Cemetery (2019) https://www.jhasw-heritage.com/trail.php?trail-id=31 [accessed 12 August 2023]

Parry-Jones, Cai, The History of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales (doctoral thesis, Bangor University, 2014)
https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/20579001/null [12 August 2023]

Depository: Glamorgan Archives D765/6/8/1.

• https://cardiffshul.org/ (link opens in new window)