Edinburgh Synagogue

The Edinburgh Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 4a Salisbury Road in the Newington area of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1816 as the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, the congregation worships in the Ashkenazi rite, under the auspices of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. The current synagogue building was opened in 1932, replacing a converted chapel on Graham Street which had served as the synagogue since 1898.

1. Early history

The Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, the city's first synagogue, was established in 1817 at Richmond Court for a congregation of 20 families. In 1868, the congregation moved to larger accommodation at Ross House, Park Place. before moving again in 1898 to Graham Street. Between 1881 and 1914, immigrants arrived in large numbers to Edinburgh. They brought different religious traditions with them. As a result, other congregations began to form. Some of these Jews migrated from within Britain. In 1879, Hasidic Jews from Manchester who had come to work in the Caledonian Rubber Works on Fountainbridge established a synagogue in the Dalry area on Caledonian Crescent. This synagogue served about 35 families. However, a majority of the migrant population came from the Pale of Settlement in Eastern Europe. In 1890, the Eastern European migrants established Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation in Richmond Court. It was eventually moved to Roxburgh Place in 1916.

1. Current building

In 1918, the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation and the Edinburgh New Hebrew Congregation unified on paper but continued to worship in separate places given their different practices. Under Rabbi Salis Daiches in October 1926 the community formed a fundraising committee to build a larger synagogue. In November 1928 the site at 4 Salisbury Road, Newington was purchased. The Roxburgh Place synagogue closed in March 1929 and a "Beth Hamedrash" (literally House of Study) opened in an existing house on the site. Construction of the new synagogue began on 3 May 1931 when Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted laid the foundation stone. The synagogue took 15 months to complete and was opened on 11 September 1932 by Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz. It was designed by the Glasgow architect James Miller; the synagogue is one of only two buildings he designed in Edinburgh. The purpose-built synagogue could hold 1,000 people and also had a mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) on the premises. Faced in red brick it is built in a simplified Byzantine Revival style with a large central dome suspended from the flat roof by steel hangers which floods the building with light. In 1981, Michael Henderson of Dick, Peddie & McKay was hired to reduce the interior. While the mikveh was in disuse by this point, it was retained and in 2003 came back into use when the synagogue was renovated again with the help of a £300,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The synagogue was listed in 1996 as a grade B listed building.

1. = Stained glass windows =

The synagogue houses six stained glass windows by the Scottish artist William Wilson which combine Jewish religious symbols with abstract and floral motifs, with one depicting the act of Creation.

1. See also

List of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom History of the Jews in Scotland Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

1. References


1. External links

Official website Edinburgh Synagogue: Jewish Small Communities Network

Nearby Places View Menu

East Preston Street Burial Ground

East Preston Street Burial Ground is a burial ground in south Edinburgh holding graves from the 19th and 20th century. The graveyard is in the care of the City of Edinburgh Council. It stands at the junction of East Preston Street and Dalkeith Road. The property is a listed building.

Cemetery Landmark

Royal Commonwealth Pool

The Royal Commonwealth Pool is a category-A-listed building in St Leonard's, Edinburgh, Scotland that houses one of Scotland's main swimming pools. It is usually referred to simply as the Commonwealth Pool and known colloquially as the 'Commie'.

Baseball Basketball

St Leonard's, Edinburgh

St Leonard's is a neighbourhood of south-central Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. Once notable as a centre of industry, it is now primarily residential. The area takes its name from the mediaeval hospital of St Leonard, which stood on St Leonard's Hill on the edge of Holyrood Park. The hospital had fallen out of use by the mid-17th century but, by the middle of the following century, a small village had developed on the east side of the road between Edinburgh and Dalkeith. One prominent house built in this time, Hermits and Termits, survives. In 1831, the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway opened its northern terminus at St Leonard's. Later in the 19th century, businesses including Thomas Nelson & Sons publishers and J. & G. Stewart distillers established manufacturing operations in St Leonard's. Industry declined throughout the 20th century with the station and Nelson's Parkside Works closing in 1968. In this period, abortive plans to demolish much of the area in favour of a ring road led to "planning blight" and the destruction of many older properties. Since the 1970s, however, St Leonard's has been redeveloped as a residential neighbourhood. St Leonard's is the site of the University of Edinburgh's Pollock Halls of Residence, including the Confucius Institute of Scotland. The Royal Commonwealth Pool – used in the 1970, 1986 and 2014 Commonwealth Games – is located here, as is St Leonard's Police Station. Until 2020, Scottish Widows was headquartered in St Leonard's.

Neighbourhood Police

Salisbury Green

Salisbury Green is an eighteenth-century house, on the Pollock Halls of Residence site of the University of Edinburgh. Originally built around 1780 by Alexander Scott, it is one of the two original buildings on site, along with St Leonard's Hall. From 1820, the house was extended repeatedly. In 1860-67 the architect John Lessels remodelled in house in baronial style, for the publisher William Nelson (1816–1887), of the Thomas Nelson publishing company. The university acquired the building after World War II and it was extended again in 1979. Several of its public rooms have been restored including the bow-fronted drawing room to the east, the Red Room with ebony fittings and the oak-panelled billiard room. Its interior includes rich painting by Charles Frechou. In 2006, Salisbury Green was given a thorough refurbishment, and operated by the university as the Salisbury Green Hotel. It was rebranded as the Masson House Hotel and Bistro in 2018, and as of 2025 is trading as The Scholar Hotel. It no longer houses students. The building (including its boundary walls) has been category A listed since December 1970.

Hotel Landmark