The unearthed pots showed that only kosher food, and no pork, had ever been cooked in them. St Aldates Church was the centre of Oxford’s Jewish neighbourhood in the 12th and 13th century after William the Conqueror invited Jewish people in northern France to settle in England - possibly so they could pay taxes to fund his wars. Recent excavations by Oxford Archaeology, ahead of some development works, revealed evidence of two houses which the 800-year-old Doomsday Book suggested belonged to two Jewish families. Amazingly it was able to show that one was owned by Jacob f. mag. Moses and called Jacob’s Hall, and was said to be one of the most substantial private houses in Oxford, and the other house was owned by an Elekin f. Bassina.
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