English Heritage offers £85,000 lifeline to maintain castle ruins

Councillors and residents have been pressing for restoration work on the 600 year-old ruin, which is owned by Scarborough Borough Council.

Now, English Heritage is offering £85,250 towards the total estimated cost of the repair work of £115,250, with the council is expected to make up the balance.

It follows a visit to the site by the chairman of English Heritage, Baroness Andrews, along with officers from the Government’s conservation agency, borough councillors David Jeffels and Mick Jay-Hanmer, members of West Ayton Parish Council and respresentatives of Scarborough Civic Society.

Councillors Jeffels and Jay-Hanmer said: “We have been anxious, along with the parish council, to see work carried out at the castle both from a safety point of view and to prevent the ruins falling into further disrepair.”

They said vegetation had grown in the ruins and extensive remedial work was needed to make the structure safe, particularly because a public right of way runs alongside it.

The funding will be used to carry out what English Heritage describes as “urgent repairs and necessary safety features such as gates, grilles and fencing.”

The councillors said Baroness Andrews was impressed with the ruins and believed that a plan to establish a Friends of Ayton Castle was an ideal way forward.