St Peter’s Green is a delightful, quiet spot in the middle of Stamford. St Peter’s Church was one of the two churches in Stamford named in the Domesday Book. It was demolished in 1560 and incorporated in the All Saints parish, but the main part of the site is preserved, fortunately having been spared the fate of the adjacent castle grounds (now the bus station).

Before World War II, the site was defined by a stone wall with railings. In its centre stood a Russian 24-pounder gun captured in the Crimean War and brought to Stamford with much ceremony in 1858. The total cost of the wall, the railings, the planting of the green and the carriage of the gun amounted to £200 and 14 shillings, a sum that was raised by public subscription.

The gun and the railings were removed in 1940 to be melted down for munitions (you can still see the sawn-off bases of the railings), but the wall and gates have survived. The gates were restored in time for the Golden Jubilee in 2002. 

Nowadays, the St Peter’s Community Group holds several of its events there, including Christmas carols every December.

The green looks especially beautiful on bright spring days, when daffodils, crocuses and the occasional tulip bob their heads.