Old St. Mary's is the older of the two Clophill churches and the now ruined church on the hill was largely built in the 15th century and served the people of Clophill for about 400 years.

As long ago as 1839 plans were being discussed to enlarge the church and when a new rector, Rev. John Mendham, joined in the 1840's it was decided that a new church should be built to

accommodate the growing population. The chancel and porch of the old church were demolished and the arch filled in.

The new church, New Saint Mary's Church, was built 0.6 miles away. It should be noted that despite New Saint Mary's Church becoming the main place of worship, Old St. Mary's was still used as a Mortuary Chapel for the burial ground for a further century until the 1940's. At this point, although the church was now a ruins, problems with theft and vandalism probably helped to speed

this process up and it continued throughout the 1970's and 1980's.

The old graveyard contains many old monuments although none of them are in their original location as they were moved to the outer edges in 1976. There have been two extensions over the years; the first extension was added in the late 1890's and the second extension dates from around 1940. The first extension can be overgrown and difficult to navigate in places but the grass in the second extension is generally kept trim. This second extension is still in use today (year 2018) and contains a section at the west end for children's graves.

Today, the ruins of Old. St Mary has been stabilised and the tower now serves as an observation tower or viewing platform where visitors come and can see the views around Clophill. Wardens help to look after the site as well as CCTV to prevent any further problems blighting the historic site.