Memorial: Bevis Marks - reclaimed
Erection date: 1701
{Hebrew text that translates as "Holy Congregation The Gates of Heaven":}
Kahal Kadosh Shaar Asamaim
1701
After some investigation we realised that this stone-work is only a few feet away from where it was originally placed. What's happened is that the modern brick building has extended the building forwards, over the pavement. The original entrance to the courtyard still exists but only at ground floor level. The stone-work, which was above the entrance arch was rescued and stuck on the front of the new brick building, rather inelegantly, to our mind.
City of London have a photo of the building before the works, captioned "Entrance to Bevis Marks Synagogue, 1958." Sephardi also have a photo, captioned "Bevis Marks Outside Gate".
Site: Bevis Marks Synagogue (3 memorials)
EC3, Bevis Marks
The Synagogue, accessed through the arch, is in the courtyard behind this office block, with its front door facing north-west. On the front of the Synagogue is the war plaque and above the door: a plaque giving the date of the building as 1701 and a clock dated 1858. Sacred Destinations has photos showing all this. The London Wall plaque is to the right of the entrance to the courtyard, in the covered arcade over the pavement that you can see in our photo.
The courtyard also used to house the congregation’s school, almshouse and orphanage. The synagogue survived WW1 and WW2 unscathed but was damaged in 1992 by the IRA Baltic Exchange bomb. Spitalfields Life have many photos of the inside of the synagogue and Sephardi has a full history.
