St Paul's Churchyard and Eden Nature Garden

St Paul's Church was built here in 1815, but from the C12th it was the site of the parish church for the village of Clapham, originally dedicated to St Mary but later changing its dedication to Holy Trinity. In the C17th the land here was connected to the manor house and owned by Henry Atkins, Physician to King James I. The approach to the church is through a small square and winding lane from Rectory Grove; there are two churchyards, the upper and the lower. The upper churchyard is the oldest part and served the original parish church. Holy Trinity church fell into decay in the C18th and was largely demolished in 1774-76 when the new parish church of Holy Trinity was built on Clapham Common (q.v.). All that remained of the old building was finally pulled down when St Paul's was built in 1815, initially as a chapel of ease. St Paul's Church was enlarged during the C19th but later returned to its original size in the 1970s when the Community Centre was created at the east end of the church.

The upper churchyard was a burial ground for parishioners who died from the plague, and later for Roundhead soldiers killed in the Civil War battle for Battersea Marshes. The lower churchyard was added behind St Paul's Church on the side of the hill. The churchyards were closed for burials in 1854 and responsibility passed first to Clapham Burial Board and then to Wandsworth Borough Council in 1900. With the agreement of the church, who retained ownership, the Borough Council laid out the lower part as a garden in 1933-4. The land passed to LB Lambeth in 1965 as a result of boundary changes, and in 1973-4 the lower ground was made into a playground with gravestones ranged along the boundaries, and is regularly used by Clapham Montessori Nursery School, established here in 1991. The upper churchyard was laid out as a garden of rest, and today is a grassed square overlooking allotments. It is surrounded by railings and contains a number of chest tombs, with tall trees including grey poplars.

Alongside the church runs Matrimony Place, a path leading down the hill to Wandsworth Road, to the side of which is a small railed area that was also part of the old burial ground and still contains a number of tombstones. In the lower part of this site Eden Nature Garden, originally called Eden at St Paul's Community Garden was created in 2000 by St Paul's Church and members of the local community. Initially in the late 1990s money had been raised to replace the wire netting with new cast iron railings (originally removed as part of the war effort), to repave the path and to install lighting. The Vicar of St Paul's proposed the space be transformed into a place to benefit the local community. The lower part had already been cleared of gravestones and all the memorials had been re-erected or stored at the upper end but the area had mainly been used for dumping rubbish or as a dog run. Volunteers spent two years fund-raising and the decision was taken to create a community garden. In 2000 funding from the Metropolitan Housing Trust enabled a shed to be installed and a part-time administrator and gardener to be hired. Railway sleepers were used to make raised beds as there were concerns abut digging down and disturbing human remains. A fig tree was planted to make the opening of Eden. Stephen Barney was appointed gardener in 2003 and his design was inspired by a country garden, with woven willow fences separating the upper and lower areas, and wooden benches provided. A committed conservationist, his aim was to create a sustainable habitat for wildlife and to promote biodiversity through planting British species and organic gardening. The garden won its first Green Pennant for the 'best community and volunteer-run urban green spaces' in 2004, an award that it has received year on year, and in 2012 Stephen won a Lambeth Champion Award for outstanding services to the local community. In 2008 the London Beekeepers Association installed two hives at the lower end of the garden, and now sells honey and provides a training apiary. In 2009 water was added to the garden with a pond at the lower end of the site initially supplied by rainwater from butts under the church roof and fed via a pipe under Matrimony Place. Eden's current gardener, Benny Hawksbee, began by volunteering at Eden and is also an environmental campaigner, continuing the vision to make Eden a haven for native plants and wildlife, and a beacon for sustainability and biodiversity.

St Paul's churchyard and Eden Nature Garden have received the Green Flag award annually for providing the local community with a green space that everyone can enjoy, and in the London in Bloom awards it was recognised initially as 'thriving' and latterly as 'outstanding'. The Eden team have worked with St Paul's in their efforts to become an Eco church, a scheme run by environmental charity A Rocha UK; in 2020 St Paul's achieved their bronze Eco Church award, achieving silver in 2021.

Friends of Eden was launched in 2008. A charity was set up to manage the garden and raise funds, and the project has received support from, among others, Bridge House Trust, Tudor Trust, Ward Blenkinsop Trust, Lambeth Community Chest Fund and B&Q. The garden provides a place where people can actively participate, or simply sit and read or play with their children, for whom activities take place. Lecture series, bat talks, bird watch days, pond-dipping, and annual celebrations of the summer and winter solstices take place.