Photograph of the interior of Newport's Risca Road Synagogue, 1997/2017

Description

Colour photograph of the interior of the Risca Road Synagogue, Newport, 1997/2017. The photograph shows the Holy Ark covered by a dark blue velvet curtain, a Hanukkah menorah (or Chanukiah, a nine-branched candelabrum) and two stained glass windows, with Stars of David and Hebrew writing.

Newport Monmouthshire Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1859 by orthodox Jews meeting at a temporary synagogue in Llanarth Street. A synagogue at Francis Street was opened in 1869 and consecrated by the Chief Rabbi Dr Herman Adler in 1871. In 1934 the congregation moved to the Nathan Harris Memorial Hall in Queen's Hill which was converted to a synagogue. In 1997 this synagogue was closed, and the congregation moved to the Prayer House by the Jewish Burial Ground on Risca Road. Within 20 years the congregation had dwindled to a few members able to attend and this too had ceased to hold services.

Sources:
"History of our Shul. The First Hundred Years", published by Newport Congregation in 1959;
Oral history interviews with members of the Newport Mon Hebrew.

Depository: Gwent Archives.