Venue: Old Synagogue
Town: Canterbury, GB

The Old Synagogue is a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 944 King Street in Canterbury, Kent, England, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1720, the congregation worshiped in the Ashkenazi rite until it was dissolved in c. 1911. Between 2008 and 2004, a non-denominational Jewish community occasionally worshiped in the former synagogue. The former synagogue building was completed in 1848 and restored in 1889. The building is considered to be the best example of a synagogue completed in the Egyptian Revival style, and was listed as a Grade II building in 1973. The building was used as a synagogue until c. 1911, sold in 1937 and subsequently used as a church hall and, since 1982, by The King's School for musical performances. Although several synagogues and churches were built in the Egyptian Revival style in the early nineteenth century, only a few are known to survive, including the Hobart Synagogue in Tasmania, Australia, the Downtown Presbyterian Church, in Nashville, Tennessee and the First Presbyterian Church, in Sag Harbor, New York. The earliest record of a Jewish community in Canterbury dates from 1160. The community is known to have been prosperous and to have traded in corn (grain) and wool as well as banking. Despite pogroms in 1261 and 1264, the community flourished until the Edict of Expulsion, given by Edward I of England in 1290. Its presence is commemorated in the street name, Jewry Lane. A modern Jewish community is known to have existed in Canterbury by 1720. The present building was designed by Canterbury architect, Hezekiah Marshall, a Christian, and constructed in 1846-48. The synagogue replaced a 1763 building torn down to make place for the new railway built by the South Eastern Railway Company. The cornerstone of the 1848 building was laid by Sir Moses Montefiore in September 1847. A pair of columns with lotus capitals flank the doorway of the simple building, 12.2 by 8.2 metres (40 by 27 ft) by 9.1 metres (30 ft)