St Peter's was originally a small church outside the town walls and was known as St Peter's in the Fields. The full name of the church today is Saint Peter de Merton and  it is considered to contain the oldest architectural remains in Bedford.  The Anglo-Saxon stonework of the church has survived a great deal: weathering, Viking attack in 1010, alteration and expansion. Interesting features include two six-foot Saxon monoliths, a runic stone embedded in the wall and a Norman doorway arch in the south porch.     Both of  the pictures above feature the Bury Farm buildings to the left of the church, which were demolished in the 1880s to make way for De Parys Avenue, while the statue of Bunyan which now marks the corner of the green is absent, as it was not erected until 1874. Today, the church is preserved with the assistance of an active friends organization, which runs a variety of events through the year.