An updated guide to my visits to London churches and other religious places of worship

Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt Saint Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

In previous postings, I have summarised and listed cathedrals, churches and chapels I have visited in Limerick, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Oxford, and other places, with hyper-links to my blog postings about each church I have visited in those places.

In a similar way, I have provided guides to the synagogues I have visited across the world.

Since my teens, I have also visited countless churches, chapels and cathedrals in London, as well as synagogues and mosques, and I have been blogging about them since about 2007. I last provided a posting with links to the blogs about each building I have visited and written about on 27 March 2025.

In the 2½ years since then, the number of churches, synagogues and other places I have blogged about has continued to grow. This posting is an effort to update that list of blog pastings and to provide an accessible index to those blog postings, with about 140 churches and church sites, and more than 30 synagogues, as well as and three mosques.

I hope to continue to update this posting intermittently, with links to each new posting.

Cathedrals in London:

1, All Saints’ Cathedral (Greek Orthodox), Camden Town (8 November 2022).

2, Saint George’s Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Southwark (1 September 2019) and here (29 October 2023).

3, Saint Paul’s Cathedral (Church of England) (9 May 2021).

4, Southwark Cathedral (Church of England) (3 December (2007), here (29 April 2016), here (1 September 2019), here (4 September 2023) and here (3 November 2023).

5, Westminster Abbey (Church of England) (11 July 2019) and here (19 August 2019).

6, Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, Duke Street, Mayfair (1 June 2025).

7, Westminster Cathedral (Roman Catholic) (26 November 2018).

All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, known for its architecture, liturgy, interior, rich decoration and music (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Church of England (Anglican) churches:

8, All Hallows by the Tower (16 August 2022).

9, All Hallows, Bread Street (16 September 2021).

10, All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street (23 September 2023).

11, All Souls’ Church, Langham Place (2 November 2023).

12, Christ Church, Blackfriars (21 September 2023).

13, Christ Church, Greyfriars (12 May 2017) and here (17 September 2021).

14, Christ Church, Marylebone, also known as Christ Church, Lisson Grove, and Christ Church, Cosway Street (3 August 2025).

15, Christ Church, Spitalfields (2 February 2018) and here (29 May 2021).

16, Christ the King, Gordon Square, Bloomsbury (27 July 2025).

17, Christ the Saviour, Ealing Broadway (15 August 2012).

18, Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch (25 March 2025).

19, Euston Church, Gordon Square, Bloomsbury (27 July 2025).

20, Fitzrovia Chapel (former chapel, Middlesex Hospital), Pearson Square (29 June 2025).

21, The Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair (6 July 2025).

22, Harvard Chapel, Southwark Cathedral (4 November 2023).

23, (former) Church of the Holy Trinity, Minories (27 June 2023).

24, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, Chelsea (28 September 2022).

25, Queen’s Chapel, Saint James’s Palace (11 July 2019).

26, Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine (23 November 2016) and here (11 July 2019).

27, Saint Alphage’s Church (24 January 2020).

28, Saint Alban the Martyr, Holborn (19 February 2024).

29, Saint Andrew, Holborn (7 June 2023).

30, Saint Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe (12 May 2017) and here (5 September 2021).

31, Saint Anne’s Church, Soho (13 July 2025).

32, Saint Augustine, Watling Street, tower (22 May 2018), and here (18 September 2021).

33, Saint Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield (21 February 2024).

34, Saint Benet Fink, Royal Exchange (19 September 2021).

35, Saint Benet Paul’s Wharf (13 May 2017).

36, Saint Botolph without Aldersgate (25 January 2020).

37, Saint Botolph without Aldgate (27 January 2020) and here (29 October 2022).

38, Saint Botolph-without-Bishopsgate (2 February 2009) and here (22 November 2016).

39, Saint Bride’s, Fleet Street (6 September 2021).

40, Saint Christopher-le-Stocks, Threadneedle Street (20 September 2021).

41, Saint Clement Danes, The Strand (28 October 2022).

42, Saint Columba’s House chapel, Maybury Hill, Woking (22 May 2021).

43, Saint Cyprian’s Church, Glentworth Street (3 August 2025).

44, Saint Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney (13 February 2023).

45, Saint Dunstan-in-the-East (13 August 2022).

46, Saint Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street (22 February 2024).

47, Saint Edmund, King and Martyr, Lombard Street (5 February 2020) and here (7 September 2021).

48, Saint Elsyng Spital (tower) (24 January 2020).

49, Saint Ethelburga-the-Virgin, Bishopsgate (1 April 2018).

50, Saint Gabriel, Warwick Square, Pimlico (8 August 2026).

51,, Saint George, Hanover Square (16 March 2025).

52, Saint George, Holborn (6 July 2022).

53, Saint George, Southwark (16 May 2019).

54, Saint George-in-the-East (22 November 2016).

55, Saint Giles-in-the-Fields Church, St Giles (7 September 2025).

56, Saint Hilda, Crofton Park, Brockley (12 July 2026).

57, (former) Saint James’ Church, Friern Park (12 October 2025).

58, Saint James’ Church, Picadilly (17 February 2025).

59, Saint John-at-Hampstead, Church Row, Hampstead (29 September 2024).

60, Saint John’s, Downshire Hill, Hampstead (30 September 2024).

61, (former) Saint John the Evangelist, Wilton Road, Victoria (12 August 2026).

62, Saint Katharine Cree, Leadenhall Street (27 October 2022).

63, Saint Lawrence Jewry (29 September 2016) and here (8 September 2021).

64, Saint Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames Street (17 August 2022).

65, Saint Margaret Lothbury (30 September 2016) and here (9 September 2021).

66, Saint Margaret Pattens (15 August 2022).

67, Saint Margaret’s, Westminster (20 November 2012) and here (21 May 2021).

68, Saint Martin in the Fields (26 February 2024) and here (27 May 2021).

69, Saint Martin within Ludgate (25 January 2020) and here (10 September 2021).

70, Saint Mary Aldermary (14 May 2017) and here (10 September 2021).

71, Saint Mary, Bryanston Square (3 August 2025).

72, (former) Abbey of the Minoresses of Saint Mary of the Order of Saint Clare (27 June 2023).

73, Saint Mary at Hill (14 August 2022).

74, Saint Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside (11 May 2017) and here (12 September 2021).

75, Saint Mary le Strand (25 February 2024).

76, (former) Saint Mary Matfelon, Whitechapel (17 February 2020).

77, Saint Mary Somerset (tower), Lambeth Hill (22 May 2018) and here (21 September 2021).

78, Saint Mary, Somers Town (2 Mary 2025).

79, Saint Mary-within-Cripplegate (24 January 2020).

80, Saint Mary Woolnoth (15 May 2018) and here (22 September 2021).

81, Saint Matthew, Friday Street (23 September 2021).

82, Saint Matthew, Westminster (1 July 2011).

83, Saint Michael, Bassishaw (24 September 2021).

84, Saint Michael’s Church, Chester Square (1 October 2023).

85, Saint Michael’s Church, Cornhill (28 September 2023).

86, Saint Nicholas Cole Abbey (13 May 2017) and here (13 September 2021).

87, Saint Olave’s Church, corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane (27 February 2023).

88, Saint Olave Jewry (tower) (September 2016) and here (25 September 2021).

89, (former) Saint Pancras, Soper Lane (10 July 2022).

90, Saint Pancras New Church, near Euston Station (7 November 2022).

91, Saint Pancras Old Church (15 June 2022).

92, Saint Paul’s Church, Lisson Street (3 August 2025).

93, Saint Peter’s Church, Ealing (20 August 2012).

94, Saint Peter’s, Eaton Square, Belgravia (11 August 2026).

95, Saint Saviour’s, Saint George’s Square, Pimlico (10 August 2026).

96, (former) Saint Stephen’s Church, Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead (1 October 2024).

97, Saint Stephen Walbrook (30 May 2018), also here (16 February 2019), here (14 September 2021) and here (14 May 2022).

98, (former) Saint Thomas, Southwark (31 October 2023).

99, Saint Vedast-alias-Foster (24 February 2017) and here (15 September 2021).

100, The Temple Church (24 February 2024).

101, USPG Chapel, USPG offices, Southwark (20 March 2021) and here (4 March 2020).

102, Saint Vedast Foster Lane or Saint Vedast-alias-Foster (24 February 2017).

Inside Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, Shaftesbury Avenue (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Baptist Churches:

103, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, Shaftesbury Avenue (28 December 2025).

104, Heath Street Baptist Church, Hampstead (5 October 2024).

105, (former) Soho Baptist Chapel, Shaftesbury Avenue (29 December 2025).

Chinese Church:

106, Chinese Church in London, Shaftesbury Avenue (29 December 2025).

Christian Science Church:

107, The Cadogan Hall, Chelsea, former Christian Science Church (5 October 2022).

Evangelical / Brethren:

108, Rossmore Hall Evangelical Church, Rossmore Road, Marylebone (3 August 2025).

Orthodox churches:

109, Saint Katherine’s Church (Greek Orthodox), Friern Park (12 October 2025).

110, (former) Greek Church, Soho (2 September 2025).

Quakers (Religious Society of Friends):

111,, Friends House, London Road (10 August 2025) and here (15 June 2026).

The French Protestant Church on Soho Square is the last remaining Huguenot church in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Reformed and Congregational traditions:

112, The American International Church (former Whitefield Memorial Church), Tottenham Court Road (20 July 2025).

113, City Temple, Holborn Viaduct (1 April 2026).

1144, Dutch Church, Austin Friars (16 May 2018).

115, French Church, Soho Square (23 February 2025).

116, (former) King’s Weigh House Chapel (Congregational), Duke Street, Mayfair (1 June 2025).

117, (former) Huguenot church, Brick Lane (23 January 2020).

118, (former) Lyndhurst Road Congregational Church, Hampstead (1 October 2024).

119, (former) Scottish Presbyterian Church, Willoughby Road, Hampstead (1 October 2024).

120, Stepney Meeting House, United Reformed Church (14 February 2023).

121, The Swiss Church, Endell Street, Covent Garden (4 January 2026).

122, (former) Welsh Presbyterian Chapel, Charing Cross Road (3 January 2026).

Looking out on Clerkenwell Road and Hatton Garden from the loggia and portico of Saint Peter’s Church, Saffron Hill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Roman Catholic Church:

123, Ealing Abbey (14 August 2012) and here (6 January 2013).

124, Farm Street Church, Mayfair (22 June 2025).

125, The Kairos Centre chapel, Maryfield Convent, Richmond (22 November 2018), and here (22 May 2021).

126, Saint Aloysius Church, Somers Town (9 Mary 2025).

127, Saint Etheldreda’s Church, Ely Place (31 March 2026).

128, Saint Mary Magdalene, Comerford Road, Brockley (9 July 2026).

129, Saint Mary Moorfields (22 January 2020).

130, Saint Mellitus Church, Islington (11 July 2022).

131, Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square (16 February 2025).

132, Saint Peter’s Church, Saffron Hill (2 April 2026).

Saint Benedict’s Abbey, Ealing, is the first Benedictine abbey in Greater London since the Reformation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Unitarian:

133, Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead (2 October 2024).

See also:

134, Royal Peculiars (11 July 2019)

135, former almshouse chapel, Museum of the Home, Hoxton (21 December 2025)

Church-linked buildings:

136, Lambeth Palace (27 July 2011).

137, Ye Old Mitre, Ely Place, Holborn, site of the Palace of the Bishops of Ely (6 June 2023).

138, Salters’ Hall, Saint Swithin’s Lane, Presbyterian meeting place, 1700s (24 January 2020).

139, Southwark Deanery (2 August 2023).

140, Winchester Palace (5 June 2023).

Bevis Marks Synagogue … the only synagogue in Europe that has held regular services continuously for more than 300 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Other religious traditions:

Judaism:

1, (site of) the Great Synagogue, Old Jewry (29 April 2016)

2, Kehillas Ya’akov, Commercial Road, Stepney (1 February 2018)

3, (site of) a synagogue at Threadneedle Street (17 February 2019)

4, The Bevis Marks Synagogue (22 January 2020)

5, (site of) Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, Whitechapel (23 January 2020)

6, (site of) former Brick Lane Synagogue (23 January 2020)

7, (site of former) Creechurch Lane Synagogue (6 March 2020)

8, (site of former) Great Synagogue, Duke’s Lane (6 March 2020)

9, Sandy’s Row Synagogue (9 March 2020)

10, Princelet Street Synagogue (10 March 2020)

11, The Spital Square Poltava Synagogue, Heneage Street (24 February 2023)

12, (former) Artillery Lane Synagogue (28 February 2023)

13, (former) Gun Street Synagogue, Spitalfields (1 March 2023)

14, The East London Central Synagogue, also known as Nelson Street Synagogue or Nelson Street Sfardish Synagogue (2 March 2023) and here (6 February 2026)

15, the Konin Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

16, the Glory of Israel and Sons of Klatsk Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

17, the Poltava Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

18, the Brethren of Suwalki Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

19, Hanbury Street Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

20, the Lovers of Peace Synagogue and the Voice of Jacob Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

21, (former) Hambro’ Synagogue (6 March 2023)

22, (former) New Synagogue, Leadenhall Street (17 March 2023)

23, the Central Synagogue, Great Portland Street, London (19 May 2023)

24, Hampstead Synagogue, Dennington Park Road, Hampstead (15 November 2024).

25, (former) Beit HaSepher Synagogue, Soho Square (14 February 2025)

26, (former) West End Talmud Torah, Green’s Court, Soho (14 February 2025)

27, (former) Bikkur Holim synagogue, Manette Street, Soho (14 February 2025)

28, (former) West End Great Synagogue, Dean Street, Soho (14 February 2025)

29, (former) West Central Liberal Jewish Synagogue (28 February 2025).

30, Montague Centre, Maple Street (28 February 2025).

31, West London Synagogue (14 March 2025).

32, West Marble Arch Synagogue (7 March 2025).

Islam:

1, Brick Lane Mosque, formerly London Great Mosque (23 January 2020)

2, East London Mosque, Whitechapel Road (23 January 2020).

3, The Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking (28 November, 2019).

Secular/Humanist ‘chapels’ and halls:

1, Conway Hall, Theobald’s Street and Red Lion Square (7 April 2026) and here (27 February 2024).

Another East End synagogue has closed in London and is due to be sold at auction next week

The East London Central Synagogue, a 100-year-old synagogue in the East End, is for sale at an online auction next Thursday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The East London Central Synagogue, a 100-year-old synagogue in the East End, is for sale at an online auction next Thursday (12 February) with a guide price of more than £2 million. The synagogue, also known as Nelson Street Synagogue, was founded in 1923, and is being sold on behalf of the Federation of Synagogues.

This is the only surviving purpose-built synagogue in the East End and one of just three remaining synagogues in the East End. It was closed in 2020 after a leak in the roof caused part of the ceiling to collapse and also because of the impact of Covid-19 on attendance numbers.

Ever since, the synagogue in Whitechapel has been largely disused. It remains a locally listed heritage asset, however, and any development by new owners would involve taking consideration of this listing.

The East London Central Synagogue, also known as Nelson Street Synagogue, was founded as the Nelson Street Sfardish Synagogue in 1923 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

By the early 1890s, there were shuls (synagogues), chevrot (benevolent societies) and steiblech (informal places of worship) all over the Spitalfields, Whitechapel and the Saint George’s area. The East End had become a centre of Jewish life by the early 20th century, with a Jewish population of about 250,000 people and about 150 synagogues.

Most of these people were Yiddish-speaking first-generation immigrants from East Europe, unlike other, longer-established Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities in the country, which had come in earlier generations from the Low Countries.

Nelson Street is in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, and previously in Stepney, and extends for 1,000 ft east from New Road, off Commercial Road. It runs parallel with Varden Street, immediately to the north, and crosses over Turner Street and Philpot Street. The East London Central Synagogue, also known as Nelson Street Synagogue, was an Ashkenazi Orthodox synagogue affiliated to the Federation of Synagogues.

It was founded as the Nelson Street Sfardish Synagogue (Hebrew name: Ohr HaChaim D’bnai Berdichev) in 1923, at a time when the East End was a crowded Jewish neighbourhood, largely made up of immigrants. Initially the style of service (nosach) was Sfardish or Sphardish, also known as Askenazi Sfard, which is not to be confused with Sephardi. The name Sfardish refers to a style of service that differs slightly from mainstream Ashkenazi and is similar to Hassidic usage. The order of service and certain extra words in some of the prayers are similar to the Sephardic tradition, but the Hebrew pronunciation and tunes are Ashkenazi, as were most of the Nelson Street congregation.

There were other Sfardish shuls in the area, such as Philpot Street Sfardish synagogue, which eventually amalgamated with Nelson Street.

Other lost synagogues in the East End include the Spital Square Poltava Synagogue on Heneage Street, the former Artillery Lane Synagogue and the former Gun Street Synagogue.

Nelson Street Synagogue was the East End’s last surviving purpose-built synagogue and one of just three remaining synagogues in the East End (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The foundation stone of Nelson Street Synagogue was laid by the synagogue president, B Bernstein, on 19 August 1923. The synagogue was designed by Lewis Solomon (1848-1928), an architect who designed several synagogues, and served as both the honorary architect of the Federation of Synagogues and architect and surveyor of the United Synagogue.

Lewis Solomon was born in 1848 to a Jewish family and was an apprentice and later clerk of works in the office of Matthew Digby Wyatt. He commenced practice on his own in London in 1872. Lewis Solomon and Son also redesigned the premises of the neighbouring Congregation of Jacob synagogue on Commercial Road, which also survives, in 1921. His other works include Golders Green Synagogue and the Fulham and West Kensington Synagogue.

His practice was being run by 1923 by his son Digby Lewis Solomon (1884-1962). Lewis Solomon died in 1928, and the practice later became Lewis Solomon, Kaye & Partners.

Inside the East London Centre Synagogue on Nelson Street (Photograph: Acuitus auction particulars)

Nelson Street Synagogue has been described as having ‘an unassuming exterior and a stunningly beautiful interior.’ The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described it in 1951: ‘Discreet brick exterior with two tiers of windows beneath round-headed arches with stone keystones. Fine classical interior. Galleries with iron railings between Ionic columns; coved steps, framed by a Venetian arch on Doric columns. Above the Ark, scrolled pediment with tablets of the law and Lions of Judah. Panelled pews and Bimah.’

Nelson Street Synagogue had a tradition of assisting local poor people, setting up of soup kitchens and other charities. It also provided a welcoming haven for refugees fleeing Eastern Europe.

The area around Whitechapel and Mile End was known at one time as London’s ‘Jewish Quarter’ and the poet Avram Stencl, himself a refugee from Nazi Germany arriving here in 1944, understood this at a much deeper level describing it as ‘the last shtetl’, with all the exile, struggle and longing that implies.

The East End of Nelson Street Synagogue, until recently one of the few surviving working synagogues in the East End (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The East End was heavily bombed during World War II, and the Jewish population moved on to new Jewish centres in north and north-west London, such as Stamford Hill, Golders Green and Hendon.

The consequent fall in membership numbers caused many East End synagogues to close and the congregations of the East End synagogues consolidated. Over the years, about 20 neighbouring synagogues were amalgamated with Nelson Street, but some of them lived on as names on commemorative plaques.

They include:

Belz Synagogue (by 1952), Berditchever Synagogue (by 1952), Buross Street, Cannon Street Road Synagogue (early 1970s), Chevra Shass, Commercial Road Great Synagogue (after 1968), Grove Street Synagogue (about 1949), Jubilee Street Zionist Synagogue (about 1967), Mile End Synagogue, New Road Synagogue (1974), Philpot Street Great Synagogue (after 1956), Philpot Street Sphardish Synagogue (after 1956), Rumanian Sidney Street Synagogue (by 1952), and the Sons of Britchan (B’nai Brichtan) Synagogue (1952).

The synagogue was renamed East London Central Synagogue in 1975. In recent years, it was left as the East End’s only surviving purpose-built synagogue and one of just three remaining in the East End, along with Sandy’s Row Synagogue, and the Congregation of Jacob synagogue on Commercial Road.

Because of these amalgamations, the shul on Nelson Street had a large collection of Torah scrolls, some dating back to the 18th century, although many are now of unknown origin.

Inside Nelson Street shul, once the most vibrant in the East End (Photograph: Acuitus auction particulars)

Nelson Street shul was once the most vibrant in the East End. Many people on social media recalled how it used to be full, especially during the high holydays and Yomim Tovim. The comments included ones that recalled Josif Weisz, a chazan from Romania with a beautiful tenor voice, and Rabbi Spetzman, an elderly rabbi with a flowing long beard who gave his sermons in Yiddish. Even in the 1980s ‘it was full of some amazing old characters … proper EastEnders.’

By the beginning of the 21st century, ‘the congregation consisted of about half a dozen stalwarts and a rabbi who walked each Saturday from Stoke Newington.’

The Jewish East End Celebration Society organised a number of Jewish East End activities 20 years ago (2003). These included an interview with Anna Tzelniker, a renowned Yiddish actor who worked with her father Meier and others in both mainstream and Yiddish theatre.

She was born in Romania and came to England as a teenager with her family in the early 1930s. She started her career in her father’s travelling Yiddish theatre company in Romania. Her many roles included five years in the West End stage production of Fiddler on the Roof.

Most of the Jewish communities in the East End have been dispersed in recent decades, and the East End now has a considerable Muslim population. , and the shul actively engaged in interfaith relations through the Tower Hamlets Inter Faith Forum, which includes the large East London Mosque on Whitechapel Road. The synagogue was also regularly visited by historical societies and walking tours, and took part in Open House London.

Leon Silver, a former president of the Nelson Street synagogue, grew up in the neighbourhood, and in his blog postings in recent years has discussed the tensions with local people and efforts to foster dialogue among faith communities A march to the synagogue from Aldgate eight years ago (January 2018) commemorated the East End’s Jewish heritage, and was followed by a multi-faith service of remembrance.

The synagogue was due to celebrate its centenary in 2023, and the architect Maxwell Hutchinson drafted plans to add museum and library space, so that the shul could build on its attraction as a tourist destination and become an historic Jewish centre in the East End.

But, after many years of attempts at renovation, it has fallen into a parlous state of disrepair, despite its rich and history, emblematic of both the history of the East End and of the Jewish community that was once a major part of it.

Today the East London Central Synagogue is daubed with disturbing graffiti, and the area to the immediate east is strewn with litter and its view marred by bins and rubbish from neighbouring premises. Inside, under all the white paint, I imagine there still may be plaques that recall the original donors with donations of 2s 6d, 5 shillings,10s 6d, and even £1 or a guinea (21 shillings).

When news of the pending sale was posted on social media in recent weeks, there were many suggestions that the synagogue should be converted into the Jewish Museum, presenting the history of Jews in the East End.

Yet, no matter whatever happens to the shul after next week’s auction, the Jewish presence in the East End is not coming to an end: the Congregation of Jacob shul is a six-minute walk away to the east, and Sandy’s Row and Bevis Marks Synagogues are a mile to the west.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

Nelson Street Synagogue once had plans to become a tourist destination and an historic Jewish centre in the East End (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

• Update (9 February 2026): The estate agents website says the former synagogue has been sold prior to auction, and a video on social media says that it was bought by a Muslim organisation, the Ashaadibi Education and Cultural Centre, which put down a £250,000 deposit ‘to secure the contract’ and has nine months to raise £3.5 million to secure the purchase.

Westminster Jews’ Free School closed 80 years ago, but the building remains a landmark

The former Westminster Jews’ Free School on Hanway Place, off Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street(Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I posed, in jest, a conundrum the other day, asking why there are no Greek cafés or restaurants on Greek Street in Soho. But, of course, in my discussion of the cultural diversity of that one street in Soho – from Greek and French to Italian and Irish, all contributing to the mosaic of life in England today – I ought to have referred too to the Jewish school that was on Greek Street for many years.

The Westminster Jews’ Free School was established by the independent Western Synagogue in 1811, before the government provided any funds for education. The school was founded under the auspices of the Western Synagogue to teach Hebrew, English, writing and arithmetic.

Originally, the aim of the school was ‘that male children of the Jewish persuasion (whose parents are unable to afford them education) be instructed in Hebrew and English reading, writing and arithmetic; that the principle of religion be carefully inculcated, and every exertion used to render them good and useful members of society.’

The school was formalised in 1820, it was funded by voluntary contributions and classes were held at the teachers’ homes. By 1837, the school committee had decided to rent a premises in Stanhope Street but by 1843 this was too small and a new school was opened at 59-60 Greek Street, opposite the Pillars of Hercules, which I was writing about earlier this week.

The children were admitted from age 5 to 12 and discharged at 13. As well as teaching, the boys received gifts of clothing and on his bar mitzvah each boy was given an entire new outfit was provided.

The equivalent girls’ school opened at Richmond Buildings, 21 Dean Street, in 1846. Shortly after, it too moved to 59-60 Greek Street. Its aims were ‘For the diffusion of religion and knowledge of moral and social principles among the young and ignorant.’

The two schools were amalgamated in 1853 and named the Westminster Jews’ Free School. By the time education was made compulsory and school boards were set up in the 1870s, it was a large, successful establishment.

The school moved from Greek Street to Hanway Place in 1883 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The school remained at 59-60 Greek Street for 40 years. But by 1882, it was obvious the school was no longer big enough. A new school that could accommodate 500 children was built on the north side of Hanway Place, a narrow lane near the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street, and it was consecrated in July 1883.

Because the school was located between Bloomsbury and Soho, it brought together an economically diverse Jewish community. The school charged fees to attend, but many scholarships were available. The school management committee included members of the prominent and wealthy Montefiore and Rothschild families and wealthy local businessmen and investors who saw the school as both a charitable and religious undertaking.

The wages and resources for teachers were much better than schools of comparative size in similar areas, staff turnover was low, teachers stayed for years, wages were increased regularly.

School prizes were endowed by prominent figures, including Sir David Salomons was the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London, one of the first Jewish MPs and a founder of the London and Westminster bank, and his nephew, Sir David Lionel Salomons. Yet, despite this, many of the children came from families that still lived in poverty well into the early 20th century.

At its peak, the school had 700 children on its rolls. But attendance was falling off by the 1930s, and the last pupil enrolled in 1939. A famous pupil was Harry Ehrengott, the only fireman during World War II who was awarded the George Cross for bravery, the highest honour that can be awarded to a civilian.

After the end of World War II 80 years ago, Westminster Jews’ Free School finally closed on 31 December 1945.

The former Westminster Jews’ Free School was converted into flats and offices in the late 1990s. But the name of the school is still to be seen in the beautiful terracotta decoration and lettering.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום

Westminster Jews’ Free School closed 80 years ago on 31 December 1945 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Watford and District Synagogue and the war-time congregations that came together in the 1940s

Watford and District Synagogue … dates from 1946 when two congregations came together after World War II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

When I was Watford this week, I paid a brief visit to Watford Synagogue, a short ten-minute from Watford Junction station, and also went in search of the sites and locations used by earlier congregations in the town.

There may have been Jews living in Watford in the late 18th century and there has been a continuous Jewish presence since the early 19th century. No formal Jewish congregations were formed in the town until the early 20th century but there were at least four Jewish congregations in the Watford area.

The first Jewish congregation in Watford was formed in 1918 and it continued until the mid-1920s. Several congregations were established during World War II, and the present congregation was established at 38 Clarendon Road at the end of 1946 and it has been in the Nascot Wood area from about 1957.

The Watford and Bushey Hebrew Congregation was active from 1918 until about 1927, with a synagogue on Leavesden Road from 1918. However, this first congregation experienced financial difficulties and, by 1920, it was stated that unless funds were forthcoming, it would be necessary to close the synagogue.

The congregation continued to be listed officially until 1927, but seems to have petered out by then.

During World War II, as families were evacuated from central London, there were at least four short-lived Jewish congregations in the Watford area. They included a congregation organised the Revd E Freedman; a group that was also known as the Watford and Bushey Hebrew Congregation that met in a house in Bushey in 1941-1942, though it does not seem to have had connections with the congregation of the same name in 1918-1927; a congregation that used the Methodist Hall on Queen’s Road in 1941-1945; and the Garston and North Watford Hebrew Congregation, active in 1942-1946.

A Jewish congregation was located at the Methodist Hall at 91 Queen’s Road in 1941-1946 … the site has since been redeveloped (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The first of these short-lived war-time congregations in the Watford area was associated with the Revd E Freedman of Abbots Langley. He appears to have organised Sabbath morning services in the Watford area in in January 1941, but it is not known they related to any of the other congregations in the area at the time.

The Watford and Bushey Hebrew Congregation met in ‘The Gables’ on Heathfield Road in Bushey in 1941-1942. It probably had no connections with the earlier congregation that had the same name in 1918-1927. It first held its services in May 1941, but there is no further mention of it after 1942.

From June 1941, yet another Jewish congregation used the Methodist Hall on Queen’s Road. It later become known as the Watford and District Hebrew Congregation, and its weekly services continued until at least 1945.

Garston and North Watford Hebrew Congregation was holding services from at least 1942, with High Holy Day services in both Saint Peter’s Hall, 58 Tudor Drive, in North Watford, at The Hall at 3 Horseshoe Lane in Garston, as well as in a Methodist hall.

By 1944, the Garston and North Watford Hebrew Congregation was holding its services in Parkgate School, Parkgate Road, Watford. The weekly services continued until late 1946, and the congregation was involved in organising the meeting in December 1946 that led to the formation of the Watford and District Synagogue.

Watford Synagogue was first located at 38 Clarendon Road … the site has since been redeveloped (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The new congregation brought together the two rival congregations that had emerged in Watford, one meeting in the Methodist Hall on Queen’s Road and the other known as Garston and North Watford Hebrew Congregation.

At first, the synagogue was located at 38 Clarendon Road, Watford, and it has been in the Nascot Wood area since about 1957. The shul is in a house that was once a semi-detached house. It was transformed into a modern synagogue with the building of a large single storey extension following a fire in the early 1990s.

The Revd Mordechai (Martin) Miloslawer served this new congregation from 1947 until about 1950. Before World War II, he was the minister in Koenigsburg in East Prussia, then in Germany and now Kaliningrad in Russia.

His synagogue was destroyed during the Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938. He was then imprisoned by the Nazis, but came to England in 1939. Later, he served synagogues and congregations in High Wycombe, Wanstead, Woodford, Slough and Windsor, and was a hospital chaplain. He died in 1989.

Watford and District Synagogue joined the United Synagogue as an affiliated synagogue in 1948, and became a constituent or full member synagogue in 1994.

Inside Watford Synagogue … ‘a friendly community’ and ‘unashamedly Orthodox’ (Photograph © WADS)

The shul is part of the ‘5+1’ group, consisting of six small United Synagogue communities – five in Hertfordshire and one in Bedfordshire. The 5+1 has an intercommunal social programme that tries to match the programmes offered by large synagogues while retaining the closeness of smaller communities.

Watford and District Synagogue describes itself as ‘a friendly community comprising just under 300 adult members, another 50 young adults and around 50 children.’ It says its services ‘are unashamedly Orthodox’, but that the ‘membership covers the entire spectrum of Jewish observance, and all are welcome.’

The members live in Watford, Bushey, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Northwood and surrounding areas of Hertfordshire and North-West London. Rabbi Mordechai Chalk grew up in Golders Green and spent 11 years studying in Israel before moving back to Britain in 2018.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

Watford Synagogue says it is ‘unashamedly Orthodox’ but that the ‘membership covers the entire spectrum of Jewish observance, and all are welcome’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

West London Synagogue is one of the finest Victorian synagogues in Britain and the heart of progressive Judaism

West London Synagogue on Upper Berkeley Street was built in 1870 and is regarded as one of the finest Victorian synagogues in Britain (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

The Marble Arch area has two of the most beautiful and dynamic synagogues in central London: Western Marble Arch Synagogue, which I looked at last week (7 March 2025), and West London Synagogue, at Upper Berkeley Street and Seymour Street, which I am looking at this evening.

West London Synagogue is one of the oldest synagogues in Britain, one of the most important Reform synagogues in London and one of the largest congregations in Europe. Together with Davis and Emanuel’s East London Synagogue, it is regarded as one of the finest Victorian synagogues in Britain and is a Grade II listed building.

Until recently, the senior rabbi of West London Synagogue was Baroness (Julia) Neuberger, until she retired in 2020, and it has also been associated with one of her predecessors Rabbi Hugo Gryn. Members of the congregation have included the historian Sir Simon Schama and the actor Maureen Lipman.

Inside West London Synagogue, long been seen as the flagship Reform synagogue in Britain (Photograph: WLS)

WLS, as it is known popularly, has long been seen as the flagship Reform synagogue and was the oldest synagogue affiliated with the Movement for Reform Judaism before that affiliation lapsed two years ago. It continues to see itself as ‘the heart of progressive Judaism in Central London’. It has an inclusive and progressive congregation, with men and women sitting together during services and playing equal parts in leading them.

Although the congregation was established in 1840, the present building was not built until 1870. It was founded primarily by members of two prominent families: the Mocatta family, whose ancestors originally came from Spain, and the Goldsmid family, who originally came from Holland. Both families were long settled in London and believed West London needed a synagogue for ‘British Jews’ and not ones that were segregated based on heritage, lineage or past language differences.

This explains why WLS is known formally as the West London Synagogue of British Jews, although its Hebrew name is Holy Congregation Gate of Zion (ק"ק שער ציון‎, Kahal Kadosh Sha’ar Tziyon).

The congregation was established on 15 April 1840, when 24 members of the Mocatta, Goldsmid and other families met in the Bedford Hotel, Southampton Row, and announced their secession from their respective congregations, the Sephardi Bevis Marks Synagogue and the Ashkenazi Great Synagogue of London.

West London Synagogue was designed in the Byzantine-Romanesque or Neo-Byzantine style by Henry David Davis and Barrow Emanuel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Mocatta and Goldsmid families had been quarrelling with the wardens in their synagogues and complaining over what they regarded as a lack of decorum for years.

They wanted to worship nearer their homes in the West End, religious services with a decorum they believed was lacking in both synagogues, sermons in English, and to together of both branches of English Jews: the Sephardim, mainly of Spanish and Portuguese descent and the Ashkenazim, with German, Dutch and central and east European backgrounds.

The new prayer group hired the Revd David Woolf Marks (1811-1901) as its first minister in March 1841. As the reformers’ plans became more developed, the criticism became more vociferous. in September 1841 the new congregation was denounced by the Chief Rabbi in September 1841, and its members were subject to a cerem or an excommunication order.

The West London Synagogue of British Jews had its first permanent building at Burton Street Chapel in Bloomsbury, from 27 January 1842. A few days before the synagogue was consecrated, the leader of the Sephardi Synagogue at Bevis Marks and the Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Great Synagogue issued a ban and declared the rebels were in contradiction of the beliefs and practices of orthodox Judaism.

Marks and the congregation adopted a unique, bibliocentric approach known to critics as ‘neo-Karaism’. Marks and the new group largely rejected the authority of the Oral Torah and rabbinic traditions, abandoned many traditional prayers, and abolished many practices, such as observing the second day of festivals and excised various prayers grounded in rabbinic tradition.

These premises soon become too crowded too by 1848, and a new location in Margaret Street, off Cavendish Square, was dedicated on 25 January 1849. The new congregation used the term ‘Reform’, from German and American influence, to describe its worship and beliefs.

A new location was required yet again by 1867, and the present synagogue building on Upper Berkeley Street was opened on 22 September 1870, with a seating capacity at the time for 1,000 people.

The synagogue was designed in the Byzantine-Romanesque or Neo-Byzantine style by the architects Henry David Davis (1839-1915) and Barrow Emanuel (1842-1904), partners in Davis and Emanuel. Davis was one of the first Jews to practice architecture in Britain. Emanuel was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and a son of Emanuel Emanuel, the first Jewish mayor of Portsmouth. Their other synagogues include East London Synagogue (1876) in Stepney Green, and Lauderdale Road Synagogue (1896-1897).

he three-storey façade is dominated by a pedimented semicircular arch supported on coupled columns with richly-carved capitals (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The synagogue is built in brick with a Portland stone façade and a slate roof. The three-storey façade is dominated by the pedimented semicircular arch supported on coupled columns with richly-carved capitals. The recessed entrance bay has graduated semi-circular arched windows over three doorways framed by a semi-circular arched arcade with similar columns.

The attic storey arcade has eight round-arched windows with foliate capitals on square piers. There are similar one-light windows on the projecting outer bays.

Davis and Emanuel also designed the main sanctuary, the bimah and the Torah ark in the Neo-Byzantine style. The other interior features include a panelled entrance hall with a beamed coffered ceiling, a double-flight staircase and bronze candelabra.

The central dome is carried on semi-circular arches and quatrefoil-section scagliola piers with foliate Byzantine-Romanesque capitals, decorative balcony fronts, clusters of colonettes and capitals and barrel-vaulted aisles. There is fine stained-glass in semi-circular arches and square-headed windows.

The premises extend into Seymour Place to include offices, a library and various community facilities. The organ was built by Harrison & Harrison and has 55 stops on four manuals and pedal. It was restored in 2008.

Meanwhile, David Marks retired in 1895. Many of his innovations, which had never very popular with the congregation, were abandoned by his successor, Rabbi Morris Joseph. He brought West London closer to mainstream Reform Judaism and removed from the liturgy its petitions for the restoration of sacrifices in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Harold Reinhart (1891-1961) was appointed in 1929 and brought West London into the World Union for Progressive Judaism. The synagogue was a founding member in 1942 of the Associated British Synagogues, later the Movement for Reform Judaism and now known as Reform Judaism. Rabbi Reinhart resigned in 1957 and with 80 former members of West London Synagogue established the New London Synagogue, later renamed Westminster Synagogue.

His successor, Rabbi Werner van der Zyl, was the Senior Rabbi in 1958-1968. He was followed by Rabbi Hugo Gryn (1930-1998), a survivor of Auschwitz who became a celebrated broadcaster and a leading voice in interfaith dialogue. He has been described as ‘probably the most beloved rabbi in Great Britain’.

West London Synagogue is associated with the first two women rabbis in Britain, Dublin-born Rabbi Jackie Tabick and Baroness Julia Neuberger (Photograph: Tripadvisor)

The building has expanded in every generation, and now includes classrooms for the children’s Hebrew school, lecture halls and libraries, as well as offices for the rabbis and the administrative staff.

Dublin-born Rabbi Jackie Tabick, the first woman ordained a rabbi in 1975, was an associate minister in West London Synagogue in 1975-1999. Rabbi Julia Neuberger, the second woman to be ordained as a rabbi in Britain, was the Senior Rabbi from 2011 to 2020, was the first to lead a synagogue in Britain. She became a life peer in 2004.

After a long-running dispute, West London Synagogue suspended its membership in the Movement for Reform Judaism (MRJ) in 2020, and that affiliation lapsed in 2023.

The co-senior rabbis are Rabbi Dr Helen Freeman, who was appointed in 2020, and Rabbi David Mitchell, who has been there since 2011. The staff also includes Assistant Rabbi Matthew Turchin and Associate Rabbi Emily Reitsma-Jurman.

West London Synagogue is committed to social action and interfaith activities (Photograph: WLS)

Today, West London Synagogue has about 3,000 members. WLS is committed to social action, and runs a drop-in for asylum seekers once a month, and works closely with local churches and other community organisations, and is committed to interfaith activities.

The synagogue has live broadcasts of its services, and its calendar includes varied Shabbat and festival services, formal and informal services, interfaith events, community groups, once a month drop-in sessions for asylum seekers and a night shelter for homeless people once a week.

Services follow the prayer books of the Movement for Reform Judaism, with material from both Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions. Men and women have sat together since the 1920s, and a choir and organ are part of service except for the aleinu and the Kaddish.

There is a traditional Reform choral service in Hebrew and English at 6 pm each Friday, with a sermon and music. The weekly Shacharit services on Saturday mornings begin at 11 am, and include the choir, Torah readings, and usually a sermon. There are services marking lifecycle moments, including a bar/bat mitzvah, baby blessing, pre-marriage celebration or birthdays and anniversaries. Morning services are preceded by coffee and cake after every service there is a kiddush or a blessing with wine, and light reception.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

Western Marble Arch Synagogue ia a merger of two London synagogues dating back to 1761

Western Marble Arch Synagogue, near Hyde Park, looks like a curved terrace of period houses on the Portman Estate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Western Marble Arch Synagogue, fondly known as Marble Arch or even WMA, is north and not west of Marble Arch in London, and the synagogue at 1 Wallenberg Place looks more like a curved terrace of period houses than like a synagogue.

Wallenberg Place was formerly 26-40 Great Cumberland Place (even) and was built in 1775-1789 as part of the Portman Estate development, begun by the developer Abraham Adams, and completed by William Porden.

Wallenberg Place forms the principal part of a crescent opening from Great Cumberland Place and was originally intended as the east part of a complete circus. The crescent consisted of substantial three-storey houses, raised by a storey and given mansard roofs during the early 20th century.

As a result of bombing during World War II, the most northerly house, 42 Great Cumberland Place, was demolished and rebuilt as flats with a facsimile façade in 1955-1957. The southern end of the crescent was also badly bombed, and was redeveloped in 1959-1961 to designs by TP Bennett and Son, providing a synagogue and offices for the Portman Estate (now 38 Seymour Street), as well as a number of flats (24 Great Cumberland Place). The principal, western frontage of the new development followed the design of the original houses closely.

No 26-40 Great Cumberland Place was renamed Wallenberg Place in 2014 in honour of the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of as many as 100,000 Hungarian Jews during World War II.

Western Marble Arch Synagogue has a story dating back to 1761 or earlier (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Western Marble Arch Synagogue was formed with the merger of two great central London synagogues in 1991 but, as a sign outside indicates, it has a story dating back more than 2½ centuries. It came about through the merger of two earlier synagogues, the Western Synagogue, which was founded in 1761, and the much younger Marble Arch Synagogue, founded almost 200 years later in 1957.

The Western Synagogue was founded in 1761 in Great Pulteney Street, Westminster, by a group of Jews who moved out of the Great Synagogue on Duke’s Place. It was one of the first Ashkenazi synagogues in England, the first to be established outside the City of London in Westminster, and it was the first synagogue in London to have sermons preached in English.

At first, it was known as the Westminster Synagogue, but the formal name of the congregation was the Ḥevra Kadisha shel Gemilluth Ḥasadim (חברה קדישא של גמילות חסדים‎, Holy Congregation of Acts of Charity).

At first, the congregation met in the home of Wolf Liepman, a prosperous immigrant merchant from St Petersburg. A series of leased spaces followed until 1826, when the congregation built an elaborate synagogue in St Alban’s Place, off Haymarket, and renamed itself the Western Synagogue. Past prominent members included Samuel Montagu and Hannah Rothschild, Lady Rosebery.

The community moved to Alfred Place, off Tottenham Court. That building was bombed during World War II, and new premises were found in Crawford Place in the 1950s.

The Western Synagogue always adhered to strict orthodox principles, but it always maintained an attitude of religious tolerance to individuals and has upheld its tradition of administrative independence for over 250 years.

Inside Western Marble Arch Synagogue (Photograph: WMA/Facebook)

The Marble Arch Synagogue came into existence in 1957 under the auspices of the United Synagogue to replace the Great Synagogue in Duke’s Place, which was destroyed by German bombs during in the Blitz in 1941. A temporary structure was erected on the site in Duke’s Place in 1943 and continued to be used for more than a decade until 1958, after Marble Arch Synagogue was founded in 1957.

Meanwhile, the Western Synagogue had continued to have a nomadic existence since its foundation in 1761. The two great central London synagogues merged in 1991. One had been an independent synagogue, the other had been part of the United Synagogue, and the merger was the first of its kind in Britain. The unification was important because it brought together an independent synagogue and a part of the United Synagogue, for the first time in Britain.

Since the merger, the Western Marble Arch Synagogue was been an associate synagogue of the United Synagogue – the only synagogue with such status.

The merger was largely successful due to the inclusive nature of the previous synagogues. The two former congregations have happily blended together into a unified and dynamic community with a membership catering for all age groups, and today it is a leading Modern Orthodox congregation.

In addition, when the West End Great Synagogue at 21 Dean Street closed in 1996, the remaining members moved to the Western Marble Arch Synagogue. That synagogue still exists nominally as an independent congregation, with an address at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, but with its own burial society and cemetery and some affiliation to the Federation of Synagogues.

The foyer in Western Marble Arch Synagogue (Photograph: WMA/Facebook)

The Western Marble Arch Synagogue has been enhanced in recent years with facilities such as the Mintz Beit Hamidrash, the Yagdaroff Library, the Bloomstein Hall and the recently refurbished Wohl foyer.

It is the only synagogue in Central London offering three services each day throughout the year, with four on Yom Kippur. The service is in Hebrew, the sermon in English and follows the Ashkenazi format, although there is also a Sephardic service on Shabbat.

The rabbinical team at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue includes Rabbi Daniel Epstein, who has been there since March 2021, and Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein. Chazan Eitan Freilich is the resident chazan.

A monument to Raoul Wallenberg by Philip Jackson was unveiled in Wallenberg Crescent, close to the Western Marble Arch Synagogue and the Swedish embassy, in 1997. But more about that sculpture another day, hopefully.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

The Western Marble Arch Synagogue is the only synagogue in Central London offering three services a day, with the sermon in English (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)