STREET TALK:SITE UNSEEN
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To walk around Canterbury is to be reminded how indelibly the Christian faith has stamped itself on the landscape. Quite apart from the cathedral and the sturdy remains of the abbey founded in 598 by St Augustine, the city is full of medieval churches, towers and mementos of the pilgrims who once journeyed here to pay obeisance to the martyred Thomas Becket.
But, as the current debate about religious instruction in schools shows, Christianity is not, and never has been, the only faith practised in Britain. The Jewish community, for instance, has been here for almost 1,000 years.
The Catholic church traditionally discouraged adherents from engaging in usury, so that it was usually members of the Jewish community who set themselves up as money-lenders. This was never the most popular, or safe, occupation. And after the Jews had been expelled from the country in 1290 - Oliver Cromwell allowed them back- they understandably preferred to live near to each other on security grounds. Many places, therefore, still have a Jewry Lane or Jewry Street. Canterbury is no exception.
Close by is King Street and here, within a stone's throw of the cathedral, is one of the most unusual buildings in Britain.
At first sight, its obelisks, columns and jazzy Egyptian decoration suggest that this is a cinema built by someone who has seen too many Cecil B de Mille Biblical epics. Or maybe it is a bingo hall put up in order to stress the links between God and Mammon.
In fact, this is a synagogue, completed as long ago as 1847. Its Egyptian style was chosen by Canterbury's Jewish elders because they associated the prevailing Gothic style with "recollections of persecution". Nearby is an elegant brick hut which contained the Jewish ritual bath.
The synagogue remained in use until the Twenties when it was sold off because of the declining congregation. It is now owned by King's School and used for music recitals.
Inside, yet more obelisks support the gallery where women were segregated during Jewish services.
The Old Synagogue is in King Street, Canterbury, sandwiched between Mill Lane and Knotts Lane.
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