Novo Cemetery

Novo Cemetery is a Grade II listed Sephardic Jewish burial ground in Mile End, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It sits within the grounds of Queen Mary University of London, and it is one of only two exclusively Sephardic cemeteries left in England.

What is the Novo Cemetery?

"Novo" means "new" in Portuguese, the language of London's Sephardic community in its early centuries. The name distinguishes this site from the older Velho ("old") ground, which the community had used since 1657. When that earlier plot filled up, the congregation leased a larger site of about three acres, roughly 400 metres to the east, in 1726. Burials there began in 1733.

How long was it in use?

For more than 150 years, virtually all Sephardi burials in London took place here. Space eventually ran short again, and in 1855 the cemetery was extended with an additional plot of about 1.7 acres. Burials of adults stopped in 1905, and burials of children ended in 1918.

Who is buried here?

Notable burials include:

• Baron Aguilar (1699-1759), a financier and adviser to the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa;
• Benjamin D'Israeli (1730-1816), grandfather of the Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli;
• Daniel Mendoza (1764-1836), a celebrated prizefighter.

How did a university end up around a cemetery?

Queen Mary College had outgrown its campus, and talks about acquiring the disused cemetery began in the 1940s. Legal obstacles and objections from parts of the Jewish community delayed the deal, which was completed in the early 1970s (sources give 1972 or 1973). Roughly three-quarters of the land passed to the university, and the remainder stayed as a burial ground.

The older, 1733 section was cleared for development. Around 7,000 sets of remains were reinterred at a cemetery in Brentwood, Essex; sources differ slightly on the exact number. The 1855 extension largely escaped redevelopment. Today it survives as a fenced enclave, surrounded by library and faculty buildings of the campus.

Can you visit?

The cemetery lies inside a working university campus and is enclosed, so it is mostly seen from the outside. Check access arrangements before you plan a trip: visits have usually been tied to organised events or tours rather than open walk-in hours. The site is in Mile End, east of central London, and the Mile End Road campus is the starting point.

Why it is worth knowing about

Few places in London show so clearly how the city's Jewish history sits beside everyday modern life. Students walk past a burial ground that holds the story of a merchant and financier community that settled in London in the seventeenth century. For anyone interested in Jewish heritage, East London history or the Disraeli family, the Novo is a rare surviving physical link.

Frequently asked questions

When did burials begin at the Novo Cemetery? In 1733, on land leased in 1726.

When did burials stop? Adult burials ended in 1905 and children's burials in 1918.

Who owns the site today? Most of the original area passed to Queen Mary University of London; the surviving 1855 section remains a fenced-off enclave on the campus.

Is it the only Sephardic cemetery in England? It is one of only two exclusively Sephardic cemeteries left in the country.

Is the Novo Cemetery protected? Yes, it has Grade II listed status.