Entrance Gateway and flanking walls to Jews' Cemetery

Cadw's description

Location

Located on Highfield Road, on the E side of the Rhymney Railway.

History

The 2nd Marquess of Bute donated land for Highfield Cemetery in 1841. Before that time the Jewish dead were taken to Bristol for burial, and the new cemetery marked the beginning of an independent Jewish community in Cardiff. A tablet on the gateway refers to Mark, Solomon and Samuel Marks, to whom the land was donated. Mark and Solomon were sons of two of the first arrivals in Cardiff, whilst Samuel Marks came from Middlesex. The cemetery is shown on the Ordnance Survey of 1881, although there is no obvious entrance structure. A track leads S to an open area in the SW corner, perhaps where the earliest graves are located. The entrance structure is clearly marked on the Ordnance Survey of 1920, and there is infill of graves further N, as well as an extension on the W side.

Exterior

Wall of snecked grey stone incorporating tall gabled entrance to cemetery. The gable has stone copings and kneelers, probably originally with finials to apex and angles. Tall pointed-arched doorway with heavy roughcast moulding and large keyblock with indentations; hoodmould with square end stops. The doorway contains later double metal doors, each with a round head, vertical bars and a Star of David. Overthrow of open metalwork. The gates are memorials but are undated. In the gable is a round-arched stone tablet bearing a Star of David, the hoodmould with decorative end bosses.

The flanking walls have flat stone copings, that to the L stepping down. To the R, a large rectangular stone tablet is set into the wall, reading 'This ground was given for Jews Cemetery by the most noble John, Marquess of Bute, AD 1841, AM 5602'. The names of the president, treasurer and secretary are given below, Mark, Solomon, and Samuel Marks, respectively. Beyond the tablet is a butt joint, followed by a former doorway with brick jambs. Plain tablet to R, then late C20 walling including an entrance.

Interior

No access to cemetery at time of inspection, but inside the entrance is an open range with corrugated metal roof. Rubble wall to L side containing a pointed-arched doorway which leads into a lean-to.

Reason for designation

Listed for its social-historical interest as a distinctive gateway leading into an early Jewish cemetery, one of the very few examples in Wales.