Willesden Cemetery Open days & tours
United Synagogue Heritage have told us about two exciting new events taking place on Sunday 17th September 2017:
Discover Willesden Cemetery with Open House London
The United Synagogue’s first event with Open House London, the capital’s largest annual festival of architecture and design, will take visitors into the heart of the most prestigious Ashkenazi cemetery. Come and hear an illustrated talk about the three Victorian and Edwardian architects, Nathan Solomon Joseph, Lewis Solomon and Harry Ford, who planned the buildings and laid out the landscape between 1873 and 1929.
Willesden’s funerary buildings were listed in August 2017 as “a rare survival” in the words of Historic England, “as many similar complexes in England’s Jewish cemeteries have been lost”. The talk will be given by conservation architect Richard Griffiths of Richard Griffiths Architects and David Lambert of The Parks Agency and will be followed by a short guided walk in the grounds. Richard is the project architect on the Willesden Cemetery Heritage Project ‘House of Life’. David has written a Conservation Plan which records the full history of the cemetery’s development.
Event Details
Date: Sunday 17 September 2017
Time: Talk: 11am – 12.30pm, followed by 30-minute walk
Venue: The Prayer Hall, Willesden Jewish Cemetery, Beaconsfield Road, London, NW10 2JE
Booking essential: https://www.theus.org.uk/willesdenopenhouse
A Good Jew and a Good Englishman – Guided Walk of Willesden Cemetery
The United Synagogue has been working for the past 18 months on a project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund which has uncovered a huge amount of history and family stories at Willesden Cemetery. This walk will highlight some of the most interesting chapters in British Jewish life over nearly 150 years and some of the remarkable people buried there whose lives still touch us today.
Project Development Manager Hester Abrams will showcase Willesden’s mix of Jewish and English sensibilities in a guided walk to see some of the most notable graves. The United Synagogue is offering this walk as part of the B’nai B’rith European Days of Jewish Culture & Heritage 2017 whose theme is the Jewish Diaspora.
Event Details
Date: Sunday 17 September 2017
Time: Tour will start at 2pm from the War Memorial next to the Lodge
Venue: Willesden Jewish Cemetery, Beaconsfield Road, London, NW10 2JE
Booking essential: https://myus.theus.org.uk/events/51710/a-good-jew-and-a-good-englishman-…
