Little St Mary's Churchyard

A gate in the iron railings marks the transition to the second garden area which lies to the south and west of the church. This area is gardened by parishioners and volunteers who with Constance Babington-Smith have kept the garden accessible for over 20 years. The transformation into a semi-wild garden was devised by Robert Lachlan, a distinguished mathematician and Fellow of Trinity College.

The churchyard had been closed to burials for 80 years and was derelict with some gravestones broken. Unmarked graves include the German Painter, Valentine Ritz, who painted Isaac Newton and other Cambridge worthies, and the exiled Dutch composer Pieter Hellendaal. The garden is further sub-divided into the nearer and the further garden separated by raised ground which supports tall trees and shrubs.

As most of the garden is within the shade of the church and Peterhouse College, sun loving plants are rare. But in spring, aconites, snowdrops and celandines carpet the ground. Along the Peterhouse wall grow Asiatic teazles and in summer white comfrey, a native of Turkey appears amongst green alkenet. The comfrey was first identified in this churchyard by Charles Cardale Babington in his 1860 ‘Flora of Cambridgeshire'. A camomile lawn has been planted near the south porch.