Jewin Crescent was a narrow street with tall buildings on either side. The Crescent became Jewin Crescent in 1878. Prior to the erection of the Crescent in 1799, the site was occupied by Bull Head Court and Nixon’s Square.
It lay within the ward of Cripplegate Without which meant that it was outside the City wall.
“There is a green hill far away, without a City wall.” Outside the Christian city meant that a non-Christiam cemetery could be placed here and Jewin Crescent marks the site of what was the only permitted Jewish cemetery in England up until 1177.
At the end of Jewin Crescent stood an eighteenth-century Wesleyan Chapel. This was sold in the 1870s with the receipts being passed over to the Wesleyan Chapel in City Road.
The Jewin Welsh Presbyterian Chapel (Eglwys Gymraeg Jewin) stood on Jewin Crescent between 1822 and 1879, after which it moved to Clerkenwell.
The 1897 Great Fire in Cripplegate affected a large section of the street. Finally, Jewin Crescent was hugely damaged during the London Blitz. Not rebuilt, it instead became part of the Barbican development. The design of Frobisher Crescent – the crescent-shaped building northwest of the Barbican Centre- is based on the shape of Jewin Crescent.
