Jewbury in York which is the site of a medieval Jewish cemetery holding 5,000 bodies, has been granted protected status as a Scheduled Monument by the Government, following advice from Historic England.
Not far from Monk Bar, the newly-protected site lies just outside York's city walls and is currently occupied by City of York Council's Foss Bank multi-storey car park.
The cemetery was in use from 1175-1290 and holds among its number about 150 people who were massacred across the city in Clifford's Tower in 1190.
Marie Smallwood, Historic England head of advice (North) said crucially the new protection does not extend to the land currently occupied by the former Foss Bank Sainsbury's buildings and its car park.
"This is really exciting and we are pleased we can finally make the news public," she said.
"We were very confident of the extent of the cemetery and that's the area under the multi storey car park and in this case we have only scheduled the ground and what's beneath."
The decision follows consultation with key stakeholders including the Office of the Chief Rabbi, The Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, Foundation for Jewish Heritage, York Liberal Jewish Community, and the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture, all of whom supported designation.
The site of Jewbury is extremely important to British Jews, who objected strongly to the cemetery being disturbed in the early 1980s when the land was developed.
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