From something I've been working on:
It is possible that the site originated as a Jewish burial ground c. 1700 before the first synagogue was built. The earliest readable gravestone dates from around 1790 but some of the graves are clearly older than that. A half stone dated 1747 is stored in the Rochester Guildhall Museum having been recovered from the foundations of an old theatre. Little is known about the first synagogue on the site. The site of the synagogue along with an earlier building was purchased in 1750 "for the purpose of making a synagogue of the Jews". Some time between 1770 and 1780 this old building was demolished and a purpose-built synagogue erected. A lease of 1780 records "lately rebuilt and is now a Jew Synagogue". This synagogue was of Polish timber and brick. In 1847 the building was described as being "a small building ... about one hundred years old, with a clock, visible from the High Street, noteworthy for having a face with Hebrew characters". The 1866 Ordnance Survey 1:500 map shows this synagogue occupying the northern half of the present burial ground.
The present building was started in 1865 as a memorial to Captain Lazarus Simon Magnus who died in that year. It was paid for by his father, Simon Magnus. There is an elaborate monument to Lazarus which could originally be seen through a gap between the old house for the Rabbi and the Synagogue. When the present social hall was built it required a private Act of Parliament to vary the trust deed and obstruct the sight line. However the hall has been built with large windows so that the monument can be seen through it. To the west of the site there is a strip 1 yard wide which is not part of the freehold, but is rented for 5p per year from St Bartholomew's Hospital.* This is the old lazer path from the river up to St Bart's which was founded in 1078 for the care of the poor and lepers. Internally the Synagogue is Victorian Baroque at its best. Above the women's gallery there is a recent stained glass memorial window the the victims of the holocaust. Beautiful and sobering.
The synagogue is occasionally open for tours, it seems to be during the annual heritage days in September. Of course it is open on the Sunday, not on the Saturday! Whatever your religious persuasion it is a thing of beauty and well worth a visit if you get the chance.
*Or at least until it closed - I'm not certain what the position is now.
