| Summary : Falmouth's Jewish cemetery was established circa 1780, the same time as the adjoining Congregational cemetery, on land granted jointly to both religious communities by Sir Frances Basset, Lord de Dunstanville. The entrance to the cemetery is near its north-west corner in a short wall. This wall and the entrance doorway show several structural phases relating to a former building considered to have been a small funerary chapel called an 'ohel'. Beyond this entrance area, the cemetery is defined on the west-north-west and much of the south-south-west by mortared rubble walls up to 1.25 metres high; its joint boundary with the Congregationalist cemetery is a hedgebank. The cemetery contains over 50 recorded burials, of which over 30 have in-situ legible gravestones along with several fragmentary or illegible gravestones, some displaced. The burials range from the unmarked grave of Esther Elias in about 1780, with the 1790 burial of Isaac son of Benjamin providing the earliest in-situ gravestone to the gravestone of Gershan Elias dated 1868. In 1913, long after the Falmouth Jewish community had dispersed, permission was given for the interment of a local Jewish publican, Nathan Vos. The graves are aligned north-north-east to south-south-west, arranged in six neat rows east-south-east to west-north-west across the plot. The gravestones are mostly upright however some have fallen over and they are made of either local slate or fine grained sandstone. Most also have curvilinear upper edges similar to some of the area's non-Jewish gravestones at those respective dates. Inscriptions employ Hebrew script, exclusively so before 1838 but from that year most also include, in English, the name of the buried individual and the year of death in the Jewish and/or Civil Calendar, a shift in emphasis more evident by the last gravestone of 1913 which has more text in English than Hebrew. Scheduled. |
| More information : Jewish cemetey at Ponsharden. Both were founded in circa 1780. The Jewish cemetery remained in use until the mid 19th century and the Congregationalist until the early 20th century. Both also contain a single grave added later in the 20th century. They are enclosed by rubble walls and the remains of a small chapel survives within each cemetery. The Jewish cemetery contains over 50 recorded burials and there are over 30 legible gravestones in-situ as well as several fragmentary and illegible stones. The Congregationalist cemetery contains over 100 graves with over 65 in-situ gravestones surviving. Scheduled. (1)
Headstones in Jewish cemetery. 1790: to Isaac ben Benjamin. 1791: to Alexander Moses. Both are slate headstones with nowy heads, moulded arrises and with dates and inscriptions on fronts in Hebrew.
The Jewish community was established in Falmouth in about 1740 by Alexander Moses, known as 'Zender Falmouth'. The Jewish Cemetery and the adjacent Congregational cemetery are on land granted by Lord de Dunstanville later in the C18. (2)
Secluded site that is overhung by trees situated on the south western side of Falmouth Road, between Falmouth and Penryn. The boundary wall is broken in places. (3-4)
According to PastScape feedback, during a visit to the cemetery in 2011 it was noted that some of the grave stones were lying down and some were broken. Most were said to be made of fine grained sandstone while others are made of local slate. (5)
This report contains information concerning current knowledge of the site, its past landscape, historical context and condition. It also provides an interim statement of significance and identifies issues and risks concerning the cemetery as well as future work required for the development of a Conservation Management Plan. See link for further information. (6)
Several headstones remained in situ, upright and intact when visited in 2013 (K Marks pers comm). The re is no longer a Jewish community in Falmouth. The 'Friends of Ponsharden Cemeteries', formed in 2013, obtained funds for the cemetery's restoration, but it has suffered from vandalism and was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 2018. Additional references (7) (8) (9).
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