New lease of life for historic cemetery after lottery grant

Plans are in place to restore one of Britain’s oldest Jewish cemeteries, after it received a £190,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Balls Pond Cemetery in Dalston, east London, first opened in 1843 with the last burial taking place there in 1951.

It is one of the most important cemeteries for the Jewish Reform Movement and many of the group’s founders are among the more than 1,000 people interred there.

The funding was secured jointly by Islington Council and the West London Synagogue, which has owned the cemetery for more than 200 years.

Commenting on the award, Islington Council councillor Jenny Kay said: “We aim to revitalise the cemetery, engage the local community and bring attention to an often-overlooked part of British-Jewish history.

“This project is not just about preservation – it’s about restoring a vital community asset and ensuring the site becomes a resource that benefits all communities.”

The Grade II-listed cemetery is still surrounded by its original Victorian-era walls and contains a mixture of upright and horizontal grave markers, many of which still have legible inscriptions in languages that include English, French, Hebrew and Italian. While many of its monuments remain intact, albeit often obscured by lichen and moss, its original prayer hall was destroyed by a bomb during the Second World War.

Among those buried in the cemetery are several high-profile people of their era. These include novelist and poet Amy Levy, mathematician and Oxford University professor James Joseph Sylvester, architect David Mocatta and explorer Ney Elias.

Deputy leader of Islington Council Santiago Bell-Bradford said: “We’re proud to be a borough with such a rich history, and we’re committed to celebrating and embracing that history.

“Balls Pond Road Cemetery is the final resting place of influential Jewish thinkers, and this funding will help bring their stories to life.”