| Abstract: |
A stretch of wall 108m long and 2 or 3m high was recorded before its partial demolition for the construction of a 'Humanities Building' for the university. The wall, statutorily listed grade II, was originally built to enclose the cemetery, 'Betahaim Novo' (New Cemetery), of the Spanish Portuguese Jews' Congregation. The western part of this stretch of wall, originally in the south east corner of the cemetery, probably dated from the establishment of the cemetery in 1726 to 1733; the plain wall ended in a gate pier for one of the two cemetery gates, since rebuilt, and bore traces of a structure abutting its internal face, probably a documented mortuary chapel, removed in the 1960s. The cemetery was enlarged to the east between 1849 and 1853, and the boundary wall extended as a panelled wall with a ridged brick coping. The external face of this extension was partly abutted at first by small houses and gardens, and later, after they were demolished and probably after the cemetery went out of use c.1936, by a four storey office building, a workshop and a garage (both the latter recently demolished). Part of the cemetery, with c.2,000 burials, survives, forming an open space within the college grounds, and much of the boundary wall also survives around the grounds. |
