History of the Jews in Scotland who spoke no English and was only able to speak Gaelic and Yiddish. Today, all known Jewish communities in Scotland are represented by the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities. Approximately 25% of Scotland's Jewish population reside in the suburb of Newton Mearns to the south of Glasgow. History of the Jews in Scotland The earliest date at which Jews arrived in Scotland is not known. The earliest concrete historical references to Jews in Scotland are from the late 17th century. The vast majority of Scottish Jews today are Ashkenazi who mainly settled in Edinburgh, then in Glasgow in the mid
Scotland in the Late Middle Ages would have been relatively evenly spread over the kingdom, with roughly half living north of the Tay. Perhaps ten per cent of the population lived in one of fifty burghs that existed at the beginning of the period, mainly in the east and south. It has been suggested that they would have had a mean population of about 2,000, but many would be much smaller than 1,000 and the largest, Edinburgh, probably had a population of over 10,000 by the end of the era. Scotland is roughly half the size of England and Wales, but has only between a fifth