Jewish records

[Mal]

Hi there everyone!

Happy New Year to you all!

A quick question, any good resources for Jewish records. There were two Jewish communities in Penzance and Falmouth from the mid to late 18th century onwards and I was wondering where you might have to go to find any information.

Thanks in advance,
M

[londoner]

Have you seen: THe Lost Jews of Cornwall by Keith Pearce & Helen Fry (ISBN 1 90017802703 pub 2000)

Lots of Information and useful references - If you have a specific name I cann look up to see if the person is mentioned.

[HeatherC]

Hello M

www.ukisearch.com/cornwall.html

has links to
Jews (Identified & Supposed) in Penzance 1851 census and
Jews (Identified & Supposed) in Falmouth 1851 census

There may even be some help from Kehillat Kernow (The Jewish Community In Cornwall)
kehillatkernow.com/

Best regards
HeatherC

[Sarch]

Hi Malcolm

Slightly off topic - re Jewish community in Penzance

I always wondered about Market Jew Street - was this a reference to the Jewish community in Penzance?

Regards

Sarch

[Deleted]

Hi Sarch

Courtesy of Wikipedia -

Pendeen is famous for its Geevor Tin Mine. The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited the mine in 1957. Little in the way of corroboration exists for the following speculations; however, mining has occurred in Pendeen for over 3000 years. 2000 years ago the Romans brought Jews to Pendeen to work the mines. These Jews, suggests Horsefield, came as slaves from the then recently sacked Jerusalem. Moreover, when Horsefield wrote his book, he claimed that locals still called a piece of tin a 'Jew's piece'. Jewish influence can be witnessed around Pendeen through names such as the village 'Bojewyn' (meaning 'abode of the Jews'); (Bojewyn is more likely to be translated from its Brythonic origins as meaning "John's Place", Jowan being a common Cornish family and first name whilst the prefix "Bos" could be most likely referring to a location or domain; Bosjowan is converted to Bojewyn through development of the indigenous dialect of West Penwith. 'Market Jew street' in Penzance, and the small town of 'Marazion' (of St Michael's Mount fame). Horsefield is now considered to be incorrect in his assertion about these names, with his interpretation of the place names; Market Jew Street and Marazion. Both places could derive their names from the Cornish language. Marghas yow is Cornish meaning Thursday market and Thursday is still considered as market day by many local people. Many Cornish place names survive in the form of the Middle or Early Cornish language and in this context the English meaning of the word Jew is probably completely different to that of its original Cornish Language meaning. For example dialectically the word Jew could be a phonetic version of the written Cornish word "Dhu" meaning Black, as Cassiterrite tin ore is often black in colour until smelted when it turns white this further complicates the debate whilst clarifying the assertions made by Horsefield and similar speculations.

Lannanta

[Mal]

Hi thanks for the help- as far as I know the old tales of Market Jew Street etc were actually corruptions of the Cornish "De Yow" meaning Thursday. I believe Marazion has a similar derivation- as knowledge of Cornish waned the assumption was made through the popular speech and analogy that there was a Jewish connection.