Historic Jewish cemetery on Windmill Hill within Gibraltar’s Upper Rock Nature Reserve.
Jews’ Gate Cemetery, or Windmill Hill Cemetery, is Gibraltar’s oldest Jewish cemetery. The earliest graves date from 1746, with burials continuing until its closure in 1848. Near the Upper Rock Nature Reserve entrance, it holds many notable rabbis’ graves and is protected as a historic monument by Gibraltar Heritage Trust.
Jews’ Gate Cemetery, also known as Windmill Hill Cemetery, is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Gibraltar. It is located on Windmill Hill near the southern entrance to the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, close to Queen’s Road and Engineer Road, within the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The cemetery is the site of the earliest known Jewish burials in Gibraltar, with graves dating back to 1746; it remained in use until its closure for burials in 1848. Many notable rabbis and Chief Rabbis of Gibraltar are buried here, including Rabbi Solomon (Shelomo) Abudarham, Rabbi Yosef Elmalech, Rabbi Raphael Moshe Hassan and Rabbi Avraham Haim Burgel. A central stone-walled enclosure contains the graves of a group of religious judges and Tsadikim, regarded as righteous people. The choice of this relatively remote site is uncertain, although one theory links it to restrictions on Jewish settlement arising from the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. The cemetery is a listed historical monument protected by Gibraltar Heritage Trust and Gibraltar law. In winter and spring, vegetation is allowed to grow to support local ecology, including the Barbary partridge, and causes some gravestones exposed to the elements to deteriorate while others remained preserved under mud and peat.
