page_title: Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom
section_title: England
hierarchical_section_title: Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom / England
caption_attribution_description: Frontage of Jew's Court in Lincoln, on Steep Hill.
context_page_description: Synagogues may be considered "oldest" based on different criteria. A number of synagogues that predate the expulsion of the Jews from England have been discovered by archaeologists or by historians in buildings that have been in use for other purposes for many centuries. A second set of synagogues post-dates the legal return of Jews to England in the seventeenth century. Some synagogues have been destroyed or demolished and rebuilt on the same site, so that, while the site or congregation may be very old, the building may be modern. Still other old synagogue buildings exist, but were sold by the congregation and are now used for other purposes, some as churches or mosques, others for everything from residences to school recital halls. And some very old synagogues have been in continuous use as synagogues for many centuries.
context_section_description: Jew's Court, Lincoln, built between 1150 and 1180. A recent architectural survey  of the existing building has shown that there is very little medieval stonework above basement level in the existing building. Documentary evidence of 1290 when the Jewish community of Lincoln were expelled  now shows that the Jews' Court has always been divided into two houses.  A charter of 1316  mentions that a Jewish scola or synagogue had stood to the west in the tenement  behind these two houses. 
  Guildford Synagogue, built around 1180.
  Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, built in 1701 is the oldest synagogue building in the United Kingdom in continuous use.
  The Plymouth Synagogue, built in 1762, is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue building in the English-speaking world.
  The Exeter Synagogue, built in 1763 originally for a Sephardic Congregation.
  The Falmouth Synagogue, built in 1806, now inactive
  Chatham Memorial Synagogue, built in 1867
  West London Synagogue, built in 1870
  New West End Synagogue, built in 1877–1879
caption: Frontage of Jew's Court, Lincoln
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