Text Box: The historic castle ruins of Ruyton XI Towns stands at the west end of the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Church. It is a scheduled monument on the at risk register. National Monument No. 34929.
The Ruyton XI Towns Heritage Group was formed to oversee a project to clear the site, raise funds to consolidate the castle ruins and to provide access for all to enjoy this historic site.
The first stage of the project was to assess what needed doing and to carry out surveys of the castle and its environment. This was done during 2003-2004 with grants under the National Lottery fund - Local Heritage Initiative - scheme. The surveys recorded the archaeological significance of the ruins, its history and its place in the environment. The surveys included the whole area of the churchyard which we believe is the area once occupied by the castle outer bailey, defined by the churchyard walls which themselves are listed. The ecological surveys included recorded studies of, birds, small animals, bats, invertebrates and botanical species. These surveys are available to view and download from this web site. The details of repair and consolidation work together with design of full access to the site was carried out and tenders received during this first stage. The Project Architect Mr Mark Newall of Baart, Harries Newall was appointed and I.J.Preece & Sons were the lowest tender for the work.
The second stage was to secure funding to move the whole project forward. In June 2007 we received notification that our Heritage Lottery Fund grant application was successful with the award of a £140,000.00 grant towards the whole project. Other grant making bodies also made up a small proportion of the total costs as well as a considerable amount of volunteer time to be taken into account. Part of the project is to build this web site and also to promote the castle to the public through educational talks and publicity materials. The local schools will also be involved in educational visits and study packs are to be developed for them also.

THE CASTLE PROJECT OVERVIEWText Box: One other small part of the project is to restore the listed stone cross which had a sundial at its head. The sundial will be re-fixed and the stonework repaired.