Work is underway to clear an overgrown town centre site which sits behind the historic St Peter’s Bastion.

The medieval Bastion on West Street is a Grade I listed building which once formed part of the original 12th century town wall. Stamford Town Council took over the role of maintaining the historic Bastion after ownership of the asset was transferred in 2022. The ancient monument was purchased by the Town Council from SKDC for £1, so the site could be transferred to local ownership.

The Bastion backs onto a large site that has become extremely overgrown over the years. Work has commenced on clearing this area, to enable an assessment to identify work that is required on the Bastion structure itself. Carrying out the clearance work has already given a fascinating glimpse of areas of the Bastion that have not been visible due to the overgrown nature of the space surrounding it. There has also been a surprising finding that internal access to the tower is blocked off.

The tower of the old town walls is a Scheduled Ancient Monument registered and protected by Historic England. Stamford Town Council is working with Historic England on the project to ensure the preservation of this nationally important structure. The organisation has also given detailed specifications for how the clearing work should be carried out.