Jewish Cemetery

At one time this little cemetery was completely overgrown and hidden behind a heavy rusted door . Good to see it is now being maintained.
Its age and position in the town has always had me wondering if it was there in Leskinnick Fields before Leskinnick Terrace and St.Johns School were built.

Perhaps some of the dates on the headstones might corroborate that suggestion.

The Jewish Cemetery, so I understand, was commenced in 1760; as you can see on the 1842 Tithe map of Penzance, the line of Leskinnick was adjusted to allow the cemetery to remain undisturbed.

The development of this part of the town seems quite interesting, the building of Leskinnick Terrace around the cemetery resulted in a large awkward plot and Johns Church Hall fills this space completely. This two story building has been dug into the rising ground and is bounded by the school and three narrow back lanes which give five access routes - one with steps and three with opes. I do not remember any way in from the schoolyard but the lower level, I recall, was a storeroom and has two or maybe three large entrance doors.

There was no access from the former school into St.Johns Church Hall. There were two large entrance doors into the lower Hall from the school yard end, down a few steps abutting upon the backs of houses in Penwith/Mount Street. In the early days of WWII the lower hall area was the headquarters of the ARP - I recall being fitted with a gas-mask there! - Peswar.