 Although the current church is not that old and ruins of the earliest churches—probably build of wood—are no longer present, it does still house architectural artifacts among the oldest in Bedford.At one time, appointments within the church were made by the Augustinian Canons who had founded Merton Priory in Surrey.Their connection persists in the name 'de Merton' even though the English Crown took over patronage of St Peter after the Dissolution of the Monasteries of the 16th century.