A guide to St Mary’s Churchyard

The parish church of St Mary the Virgin, located in the Churchgate Conservation Area, lies half a mile from Cheshunt Old Pond at the western side of College Road. The area has a rich history, containing several distinguished old buildings and a beautifully landscaped park.

St Mary’s church provides an attractive focus to the Conservation Area. Built in 1418 it occupies the site of an earlier church. It was extended in 1872-3 (South Chapel) and 1883-4 (South Porch). It is a Grade I listed building of which there are five in the Borough and is therefore very important in an architectural and historical context locally. In recent years the church has undergone considerable repair, grant aided by both the Council and English Heritage.

The churchyard, used as a burial ground from earliest times to 1855, contains a number of interesting family vaults from the 17th and 18th centuries, six of which are listed. To the left of the path leading to the NW corner of the churchyard is the large grey slated vault of the Cromwell family – Oliver, a London solicitor, was the great-grandson of the Lord-Protector. Near the south wall of the churchyard is a Medieval stone coffin recovered from the church in 1872 when it was found being used inverted as a doorstep. An unusual small tombstone to Mrs Ann Reeves contains the date – “February 22nd 1747/8”. The uncertainty of the year was most probably caused by the change to the Gregorian calendar which took place around that time.

Click here to download the guide - St Mary’s Church, Cheshunt