Audio Performances

THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY AUDIO TRAIL, LAMBHAY HILL, PLYMOUTH

Download the tracks to your phone or listen via this link

Located on Plymouth’s historic Hoe, in the shadow of The Citadel, lies a hidden secret: The Old Jewish Cemetery. Contained within high stone walls it has always remained hidden from public view. The only clue to its existence…an insignificant door.
In 2016 that door was opened and for the first time in its history the general public were given the opportunity to take a look inside. With the aid of funding from Vital Sparks and the Drake Foundation an audio trail was created in the garden cemetery, bringing to life the lives of those buried within this hidden gem.
In 1740 this plot was a family garden; today it is a calm oasis that hides a wealth of history and culture.

CONTACT DETAILS HERE FOR OPENING TIMES AND FOR ORGANISING GROUP TOURS

Our research…

• Black, Doris BA The Plymouth Synagogue 1761-1961  Synagogue Publication
• Fry, Helen (2915) The Jews of Plymouth Halsgrove: Somerset
• Fry, Helen (2912) Jewish Cemeteries of Devon. e-book
• Susser, Bernard BA (1972) An Account of the Old Jewish Cemetery on Plymouth Hoe. Bro-Cards:Plymouth
• Susser, Bernard (1993) The Jews of South-West England: the rise and decline of their medieval and modern communities. The Exeter University Press:Exeter
• http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-women-silversmiths-of-england/
  https://www.geni.com
  ancestry.com

Thanks to Georgina Bellem and Jonathan Nicholson for sharing their family history with us and writing the biographies of their ancestors Rachel Bellem and Kitty Levi, buried in this ground. Also to Janet Henwood for sharing information she collected from the Plymouth Records office.

With special thanks to the custodian of the Plymouth Synagogue, Jerry Sibley, for helping every step of the way with information, contacts, tea and kosher cake.

With the voices of  Derek Frood; Jo Loyn; Natalie McGrath; Ruth Mitchell; Jojo Moreschi; Jon Nash; David Prescott; Jerry Sibley & Josie Sutcliffe;

Sound design by Stage Technical Services

This audio trail is funded by Vital Sparks and the Plymouth Drake Foundation.

       

Ruth wrote a blog about the making of the audio trail here

 

Hidden Stories : Hidden Places

Hidden Stories : Hidden Places grew out of our highly successful Plymouth Cemetery trail,  an artist led project researching and gathering stories from the people buried in overlooked and often unknown Jewish cemeteries in Exeter and Falmouth. The project culminated in a sharing of the stories for the Heritage Open days in 2017. We gave a presentation about the project in the Falmouth Poly;  in Exeter the stories were part of the open day in the Exeter synagogue and in Falmouth part of an audio trail in the Ponsharden Jewish and Dissenters Cemetery .

• Hidden Stories:Hidden Places was created & voiced by Ruth Mitchell & Derek Frood,
• additional voices Kirsty Cox and David Prescott,                                                                                  
• Sound design, audio visual and recordings by Stage Technical Services, Exeter                                  Produced by Fiona Fraser-Smith

Thanks to the Exeter Hebrew congregation and their Family History Society plus Kehillat Kernow and the Friends of Ponsharden Cemeteries

The audios for Falmouth, Exeter and Plymouth are all on line to listen to, just CLICK HERE

Plus click HERE for a film about Hidden Stories: Hidden Places

Hidden Stories:Hidden Places was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England , Exeter City Council small grants scheme and  Feast Cornwall a programme that makes great art happen across Cornwall.

 

We used these publications for our research

• Fry, Helen (2012) Jewish Cemeteries of Devon. e-book
• Nunn, Robert & Tom Weller (2016) The Dissenters’ Burying Ground, Ponsharden, Cornwall – Monument Survey Dissenters Press: Cornwall
• Pearce, Keith (2014) The Jews of Cornwall- A History: Tradition and Settlement to 1913 Halsgrove: Somerset
• Susser, Bernard (1993) The Jews of South-West England: the rise and decline of their medieval and modern communities. The Exeter University Press:Exeter

 

DAMNATION ALLEY

Damnation Alley is an audio piece to be listened to whilst walking a route around the Barbican and is available to download onto an MP3 player or smartphone here or here.

This download guides the participant on a journey that begins and ends at the Barbican Theatre, Castle Street Plymouth.

Damnation Alley was the nickname for Castle Street, a small street in the Barbican area of Plymouth that one time was known for its amount of ale houses and brothels. Inspired by an 1851 Government paper into the living conditions in Plymouth, the piece is part verbatum and part scripted. With thanks to Birlin publishers for the use of content from ‘Lost Plymouth’ by Felicity Goodall

Voices of Ruth Mitchell & Derek Frood, Sound Design by Belinda Dixon Media