Synagogue And Attached Area Railings

This building, originally a Wesleyan Reform chapel and later used as a synagogue, dates from 1854 and was designed by T Simpson. It was converted around 1950. The architecture is in the Classical Revival style, constructed with stucco and featuring a hipped slate roof.

The exterior has a sill band and string course, with the bays divided by large Corinthian pilasters. The building is two stories high plus a basement, comprising 3 bays by 7, plus a rear addition. It has tall, round-arched windows. The street front has a projecting central section supported by four fluted Corinthian pilasters, a dentillated cornice, and a pediment. This central section includes a small, flat-headed window flanked by doors, and three windows above. The left return has seven windows. The rear addition has a flat roof, double doors, and three windows.

The interior is plastered and largely unaltered. It has a dentillated cornice above a cross beam ceiling decorated with a guilloche pattern. Similar enrichment is found on the window heads. There is an all-round oval gallery supported by cast-iron Corinthian columns with elaborately moulded fronts and bands featuring guilloche and vine trail motifs. A clock is located at the rear. At the front is a resited granite and marble tabernacle, featuring fluted pilasters and inscribed tablets under a segmental pediment. Niches with seats are on each side, leading to renewed doors within 19th-century pedimented surrounds.

Original panelled benches are present throughout the building, alongside some fittings dating from the mid-20th century. Memorials include two marble and slate war memorial tablets. Outside the front are four square, panelled piers with cornice caps, supporting two wrought-iron gates and railing. A wrought-iron area railing with an ashlar plinth is present on the left return.