Chatham Memorial Synagogue

The Chatham Memorial Synagogue, dating from 1865 and opened in 1870, was designed by Hyman Henry Collins in the Byzantine manner. It was commissioned by Simon Magnus as a memorial to his son, Captain Lazarus Simon Magnus, who died in 1865 and is buried in the adjacent graveyard. The building is constructed of Kentish rag-stone with Bath stone dressings, and features columns and enrichments of red Mansfield stone with floriated capitals. An inscribed marble tablet is set within the tympanum. The north gable features a large wheel window, and a tower to the northwest rises to a spire, with tall, two-light, round-arched windows containing circular foils, and an overhanging cornice with a corbel table and gablets. A committee room sits to the left, its north gable articulated with round-arched windows within columned arcading. The side elevations of the synagogue exhibit three two-light round-arched windows, also with small circular foils, interspersed with corbels and buttresses. The south end is gabled and polygonal.

The entrance vestibule contains a dedication tablet, an enriched cornice with elaborate brackets, engraved glass doors, and a multi-coloured Minton tiled floor. The synagogue interior features three bays with arches constructed of serrated ornamental white and red bricks, supported by clustered and coupled columns of red Mansfield stone with floriated capitals and bases. The barrel-vaulted roof is boarded with a quatrefoil band at its base. A semi-circular arch, supported on polished red Mansfield stone columns, leads to the south end where the Ark is located, complete with a balustrade and carved stone screen with a convex recess. Clustered pillars of variegated coloured marbles at each angle of the polygonal south end support a domical ceiling. The Ark has enriched doors, and the building has an original wooden pew seating arrangement both downstairs and in the women’s gallery, alongside elaborate ironwork framing the reading desk and gallery. Stained glass depicting the Ten Commandments is positioned above the Ark, with additional stained glass windows by Messrs Smith and Miers, London. The synagogue replaced an earlier building and graveyard. Original plans included a minister’s house, since demolished, the placement of which left a monument to Captain Lazarus Simon Magnus visible between the buildings. Copies of the architect’s drawings are displayed in the entrance vestibule. This is the sole synagogue in the country with an attached graveyard.