In 1816 a piece of land was purchased in Braid Place (now Sciennes House Place) and became the first Jewish cemetery in Scotland. Dr. Daiches in his account, "The Jew in Scotland" mentions that in the early years Glasgow Jews brought their dead to Braid Place for burial until they acquired a burial place of their own.

The cemetery is small, with about 29 headstones, and is situated between a tenement and a disused police station. Also beside the cemetery was the house of Professor Adam Fergusson where the young Walter Scott met Robert Burns for the one and only time. And if that wasn't enough history for such a small Edinburgh street, it was also here that Conan Doyle lived and played as a boy.
 

When the cemetery became full a portion of land was acquired in Echo Bank Cemetery (now Newington Cemetery) and when that too became fully utilized the Jewish comunity purchased a piece of ground in Piershill Cemetery.

The cemetery in Sciennes House Place has been locked each time I've passed and consequently I was only able to photograph through the railings.


Although Braid Place was the first Jewish cemetery in Scotland there is an earlier record referring to Jewish burial in Edinburgh. The following passage comes from "Silences That Speak" by William Pitcairn Anderson published in 1931 (a copy may be found in the Edinburgh Room of the Central Library on George IV Bridge).

The first entry on record referring to Jewish burial in Edinburgh would appear to be that in the town council minutes (vol. cxxiii pp 428-33), of date 6th May 1795. Herman Lyon, a Jew and dentist in the city, petitions the council for a burial-place on Calton Hill for himself and his family. The place fixed upon was at a natural cave or alcove on the north-west shoulder of the hill. The petition was granted, and the price paid for the ground was £17. According to agreement Lyon had the alcove fitted up as a sepulchre, with an iron gate over the entrance, and there in due course he and his wife were laid.

Mr. Francis Caird Inglis, of Rock House, states (1931) that his mother remembers well the existence of the Jewish tomb, and that he heard her describe it. The actual site of the alcove was on the slope beneath where the Observatory now stands. When a number of years ago, the council decided to widen the walk around the hill, the sepulchre was found to be in the way, and was in large part removed. A back portion of the alcove is still to been seen, now very much open to the heavens,and is pointed out by the park-keeper. Any memorials or relics of the dead that may have existed at the demolition are supposed to have been removed to the Jewish cemetery in Braid Place.

 "Silences That Speak", chapter XVII, page 704.

An article from the Edinburgh Evening News dated February 24th 1994, sent to me by Harvey L Kaplan of Glasgow, tells of the rediscovery of the Lyon tomb. The headline reads, "Subterranean secret of a Capital landmark", and goes on to describe how Jamie Shepherd, director of the City Observatory, and a visiting Canadian pot-holer , Thomas Dismukes, crawled through a rabbit burrow in search of caves and stumbled upon an ancient Jewish crypt which had been lost for several decades. The pair crawled, worm-like, into the rabbit burrow and along a 30 foot passageway to the tomb. The article goes on to say that original tombstones are thought to have been move to Braid Place and that Herman Lyon and his wife are believed to be buried beneath the floor of the crypt - contrary to the account in "Silences That Speak". The crypt itself measures 11ft by 14ft and has a barrel-vaulted ceiling 10 ft high.