The most southerly and westerly of Britain's Jewish cemeteries has been awarded £13,100 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for restoration work.

Penzance's Grade ll-listed cemetery site, which dates back to the 1740s, requires repairs to its boundary wall, entrance and prayer hall and improved visitor access.

The HLF grant is matched by a similar amount contributed by visitors, descendants of those buried and local and Jewish organisations.

Restoration work has brought together the site's owners, Board of Deputies Heritage, with Kehillat Kernow - the Jewish community of Cornwall - Friends of the Penzance Jewish Cemetery, Penlee House Gallery and Museum in Penzance and the town council.

Kehillat Kernow's Leslie Lipert said: "The generous contributions of the HLF and others will revive Jewish and Cornish history and strengthen links with the wider Cornish population."

HLF's Nerys Watts said: "It is wonderful that we are able to support the restoration of the cemetery. As a final resting place for many figures who made a major impact on Cornwall, it has huge significance."

The last Jewish burial at the cemetery was in 1911.

Further along the coast progress is also being made at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Falmouth. With sponsorship from Sainsbury's, secure metal fencing has been erected around the site to protect it from vandalism. As soon as sufficient funds are available, stone restorers will be commissioned to make good damaged headstones.