New Sephardic Cemetery Mile End Road (London)

In 1656 Jews had again been allowed to settle in England. The first of them, Sephardic Marrans from the Netherlands, settled on the eastern edge of the city area, and there they established their first cemetery in Mile End, the 'Betahayim Velho', already in the following year, 1657. It was only about 0.6 hectares in size, and in view of the steadily growing congregation, it was foreseeable that its capacity would be exhausted in the not distant future. Therefore, as early as 1724, an orchard located about 200 meters to the east was acquired as a site for a second cemetery, which, however, was initially leased. In 1733, the 'Betahayim Nuevo', the new cemetery, was established here, which was expanded in 1855 and used until 1899; it was officially closed in 1936.

The campus of Queen Mary College (since 2000: Quen Mary University of London), originally adjacent to the cemetery, grew over time around the cemetery, and so after its closure since the 1940s there was a desire on the part of the university to use this site for its own purposes, a desire that met with strong protests. It was not until 1973 that an agreement was reached, according to which a good ¾ of the area of the cemetery was given to the university, while the rest remained. A much larger cemetery was created on Hoop Lane in Golders Green.