The Guided Tour

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What is the best way to find out how a city honours its Jewish history? See if you can find the Jewish cemetery!  

On this tour you will walk in the steps of the Jews coming with the Normans at the end of the 11th Century to Canterbury. Subject only to the king, the Norman Castle would be a regular place the medieval Jewish community of Canterbury would have dealings, in good or in bad times.

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Come and walk the road to the medieval Jewish quarter and using your imagination see how they lived, worshiped and their relationship with the town and the monks of Canterbury Cathedral.

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If you choose to optionally visit the cathedral this would be a good time to go there and admire the stained glass windows, where you can put faces to the medieval Jewish community. You can combine this visit with a fully paid tour inside the cathedral. Please note, that this is subject to additional charges by the cathedral.

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The Jewish community was expelled from England in 1290. It took almost 400 years before Jews returned from Europe to make England their home once more. In the middle ages the Jewish immigrants came from the Spanish peninsular and are called Sephardic.

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In the second part of this tour you will walk in the foot steps of the ‘new’ community, this time made up of immigrants from Northern and Eastern Europe. These are called Askenasic. Now you will discover how this group settled and integrated and their relationship with the city of Canterbury.

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Subject to availability, we will visit the third and now called ‘Old Synagogue’, see what happened to the second one and also walk to the highlight of the tour the well-kept cemetery. This cemetery is hidden from view, but is kept tidy by Canterbury’s council.