The site of the long-destroyed medieval synagogue in York is now marked with a classic Blue Plaque denoting a historic location. It is the first blue plaque marking Jewish heritage in York.
York Civic Trust unveiled the plaque on September 9 on what is today Coney Street. It marks the location of York’s 13th century Synagogue and the house of Aaron of York, one of the city’s most prominent Jews in the 13th century.
It was unveiled by Rabbi Elisheva Salamo, who took up the post in 2023 as York’s first resident Rabbi in eight hundred years.
York City Trust said the synagogue had dated from around 1205 to 1290 — after the massacre of the entrire Jewish population in 1190 — and provided “fresh perspective on the history of York’s Jewish community.”
After the tragic events of 1190 at Clifford’s Tower where the city’s Jewish community died as a result of antisemitic sentiments following the coronation of Richard the Lionheart, a group of Jewish individuals returned to live and work in York at the King’s behest. During the first half of the 13th century, this second Jewish community experienced growth and prosperity, making for a story of resilience, co-operation and success that had previously been overlooked in the face of the massacre of 1190.
One of these was Aaron of York, who, YCT said, in 1236 “assumed the position of arch-presbyter, or ‘Justiciar’, of the English Jews, a role appointed by the Crown to oversee the financial administration of the Jewry in England particularly in matters of taxation.”
Placing the plaque came out of Jewish Neighbourhoods research, part of the Streetlife York project.
The project also has an online interactive Jewish heritage trail through York.
Little — if anything — visible remains of York’s medieval Jewish history and heritage, and one of the main challenges facing the public representation of medieval Jewish history in England is the lack of tangible evidence. But, as placing the blue plaque indicates, there has recently been a move to recover this history.
See our 2017 Have York Say essay —Touring the Invisible: The Public Recovery of England’s Medieval Jewish History — by Toni Griffiths, whi provides insight into recent efforts to overcome this issue through the creation of a Medieval Jewish Trail in Winchester, where Jews thrived from the 12th century until their expulsion from England in 1290. She demonstrates the complexities faced by a city struggling to remember its medieval Jewish history.
Read the York Civic Trust report about the plaque unveiling, with further details about the history