The Montefiore Synagogue and mausolemum is only 1.8 miles from Newington

The Synagogue

In the Victorian era, English gentlemen of standing usually possessed country estates, which often included a chapel. Moses Montefiore was no exception; and in 1831 he bought a mansion with twenty-four acres of land on the East Cliff of the then fashionable seaside town of Ramsgate. The house had previously served as a country residence for Queen Caroline, when still Princess of Wales, and had passed into the possession of the Marquis of Wellesley, brother of the Duke of Wellington. Soon after, Moses Montefiore bought an adjacent plot of land and commissioned his cousin, architect David Mocatta, student of Sir John Soane and the first Anglo-Jewish architect, to design his own synagogue, which was opened with a grand public ceremony in 1833.

He wrote in his diary:

"We had the happiness of attending our Synagogue morning afternoon and evening. Thanks to heaven for a very happy day. Our Synagogue looked like Paradise".