York medieval Jewish cemetery granted protected status

York’s medieval Jewish cemetery has been granted special status by the government to protect it from developers.

The site, known as Jewbury, has been deemed a scheduled monument - an archaeological site of national importance that is legally protected - by the government, following advice from Historic England, which said it was “of extraordinary cultural and historic significance”.

The site’s scheduling was prompted by York Council’s plan for a mixed-use development scheme. Rabbi Dovid Lichtig, CEO of the Interlink Foundation, said its protected status was “a complete game changer” in ensuring the survival of Jewbury, which is one of just ten Jewish medieval cemeteries in the UK.

In their decision-making, Historic England noted the cemetery’s rarity, survival and historical importance in underlying its need for special protection.

The cemetery was first discovered in the 1980s while the land was being prepared to make space for a supermarket. The site was confirmed to be Jewbury by archaeologists when over 500 bodies were excavated from the ground and examined under rabbinic observance before being reinterred.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, declared that the site was of “exceptional cultural and historic significance”, as well as being the most “extensively understood” medieval Jewish cemetery in England.

A map showing the site of Jewbury medieval cemetery in York (Photo: Historic England)[Missing Credit]

Historic England further commented that the cemetery was critical in understanding the “small, but significant” medieval Jewish population of York, providing insight into some of the most significant occurrences of medieval antisemitism, such as the massacre of Jews at York’s Clifford Tower in 1190 and the expulsion of all Jews from Britain a century later. The cemetery is marked by a plaque commemorating York’s Jewish population.

The site’s designation represents a victory for stakeholders, including the Interlink Foundation and the Office of the Chief Rabbi, as well as local Jewish organisations, all of which campaigned for its protection.

Calls for its protection were also supported by Christian organisation the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture. This marks a trend of different faith groups working together for the cultural preservation of Jewish sites, following last year’s discovery of a medieval Jewish cemetery hidden under the Barbican by the Jewish Square Mile Project, which now includes people of different faiths and none.

Rabbi Dovid Lichtig said that what lay in Jewbury was a chapter in the “perennial Jewish story”, one of repeated resettlement and expulsion “that started from the expulsion of Jews from Israel”.