• Introduction
• History
• Key Dates
• Disability and Access

• Places of interest
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GROWTH & DECLINE

At the end of the war, most of the Jews returned home, but enough stayed and joined the community, to considerably boost congregational life. In the 1960s and 70s there were about 300 Jews in Northampton. By 1990 there were about 150. The congregation, while active, is now an older congregation.

One of the more notable events in recent times was the building of a new synagogue, on the site of the old, in 1965. And in 1988, the community celebrated its centenary which was a large civic celebration, attended by the Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue, the President of the Board of Deputies and the Mayor and Mayoress of Northampton.

The community now plays an important annual role in the Holocaust Memorial Day, which has become an important and appreciated civic occasion and is well reported in the local press.

In the last few years some remnants of the medieval Jewish community have been recovered. In 1990 a medieval Jewish tombstone in possession of Northampton Central Museum, was positively identified by the author, and then in 1992 the site of the medieval cemetery in the Barrack Road was also located by the author, with skeletal remains being excavated some months later after the collapse of a culvert.