Castle Park is dominated by the ruined shell of St. Peter’s. It was among the Bristol churches gutted by bombs in the Blitz. Sadly it was one of the oldest. Saxon in origin, it was rebuilt in Norman times and again around 1400. The church had a near miss in an earlier war. As the Royalists stormed the city in 1643, the Roundhead commander of Bristol Castle ordered nearby St Peter’s to be demolished, to give his garrison a clear line of fire, but was persuaded to forbear.