Up until the mid-eighteenth century this was the only burial ground in the town and it served all denominations and creeds.

The graveyard was extended in 1803 but the extra space was soon used up and in 1849 the graveyard was closed, and a new graveyard was then opened in Old Town.

Another point of interest was that Raleigh, the first Native American to come to Britain was brought to Bideford by Sir Richard Grenville, and was for a short time part of his family. He was encouraged to adopt the Devonshire way of life and he gained the distinction of being the first Native American to be baptised a Christian.

Sadly less than a year later he died of a cold and was buried in St Mary’s Graveyard. Unfortunately in the mid-1800s, during a clean up of the graveyard, the location of the last resting place of the first Native American to be baptised a Christian was lost forever.