Sabbath Lamp

Excavations in 1975-6 in Peter Street uncovered an exceptionally well-preserved three-wick bronze lamp, one of the very few examples of the English medieval Jewry’s material culture to have survived. Identified as a Sabbath lamp, it would have been lit by the wife above the table on Friday evenings and the eve of festivals, to symbolise the light of religion that such occasions bring to the Jewish family. The precise find site would have fronted Narrow Winch Street, on the south side, whereas the documented buildings already referred to were on the north.