Sir Moses Montefiore Synagogue

Sir Moses Montefiore Synagogue

Synagogue on Heneage Road, Grimsby, built 1885–8 with later additions. The building is constructed of red brick with stone details and a Welsh slate roof.

The main synagogue is rectangular on plan, 2 storeys high, arranged in 3 by 5 bays with a gable facing the street. The 3-bay front has a central section that breaks forward. A moulded plinth and drip course run around the base. The central ark extension, added 1934–5, is a flat-roofed single-storey structure with angle pilasters in patterned brick capped with small domes, a small ventilator to the front in a patterned brick surround, and a marble tablet below bearing a First World War memorial inscription. Flanking sections of the main range each have an inscribed stone tablet: the left records the foundation stone laid by FD Mocatta of London on 22 July 1885; the right bears Hebrew and English inscriptions commemorating the 1935 jubilee.

The ground floor has a pair of round-headed windows with hoodmoulds. A modillioned brick first-floor band with chamfered top course runs across. The first floor features a large central oculus in a moulded ashlar reveal with hoodmould, flanked by narrow slit-lights beneath arched hoodmoulds. Above are six narrow recessed panels terminating in a Lombardy frieze, the central 4 panels containing blind slit-lights. The central bay is capped with a brick and ashlar triangular pediment with a dentilled and moulded cornice; the tympanum contains a central stone panel carved in relief with an open book beneath a round arch and an ashlar Lombardy frieze. Side bays have twin round-arched windows with fluted central shafts with moulded capitals, hoodmoulds and recessed fluted ashlar apron panels; ashlar Lombardy friezes and coped gables complete them.

An archway attached to the ground-floor right has a chamfered plinth and chamfered round arch with an ashlar hoodmould beneath a stone-coped gable; it is fitted with a 20th-century wrought-iron gate.

The right return of the main range has segmental-arched 2-light windows and a door with overlight to the far right. A pair of 20th-century inscribed marble memorial tablets are positioned here. A low parapet runs along the top, with an end stack to the left.

A single-storey hipped secondary synagogue (added 1933, now used as a meeting hall) has a door to its left, 4 segmental-headed 2-light windows, and a series of inscribed foundation stones.

The left return of the main 19th-century range has 4 windows to each floor with 2 round-arched lights in wooden frames, stone sills and chamfered lintels; small casements are positioned to the left.

Interior

The 19th-century synagogue retains a women's balcony around three sides, carried on shaped brackets and cast-iron columns with Corinthian-style capitals. The balcony front is panelled, as is the dado. Sets of original 19th-century pews remain, those in the balcony having shaped arms on slender turned supports. The ceiling is of panelled plaster with moulded cornices and 3 ornate roof vents. The central aisle has a wooden dais (bemah) of 1934 with panelled sides, carved inscriptions and lamps at the corners. A polished granite surround frames the 1934 ark recess with panelled interior. East windows have moulded plaster reveals; other windows are fitted with wooden architraves and bracketed sills.

Stained Glass

The stained glass covers a range of dates and designs, many pictorial, with numerous memorial inscriptions. The east gable-end windows and ground-floor north windows date mostly from the late 19th and early 20th centuries; those on the south side and north side first-floor are from the 1920s and later. The circular east window, in memory of Mrs Szapira of Boston, depicts the commandment tablets supported by a lion and unicorn.

History and Context

This is the only surviving Victorian synagogue in Lincolnshire and South Humberside, and one of very few of this period in the country to survive so intact. Together with its accompanying bath-house, it reflects the former significance of Grimsby's Jewish community and the town's prominence in the movement of Jews from Eastern Europe to Britain and America. In the late 19th century, Grimsby was the third largest centre (after London and Hull) for Jewish immigration, with over 100,000 people landing here during the peak years between 1881 and 1914.

The building forms part of a notable group of Victorian and Edwardian educational and religious buildings erected on land provided by the Heneage Estate. Other surviving buildings in this group include St Mary's Roman Catholic church, the Holme Hill School Education Centre, the Art College and the Education Office in Eleanor Street. Anglican and Primitive Methodist churches also once stood nearby.