The £1.14 million facelift of Birmingham’s 13th Century Weoley Castle Ruins has been shortlisted for a prestigious national heritage award. Birmingham City Council completed the £1.14 million facelift last year thanks to a £500,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant and further support from English Heritage.

Birmingham residents are being urged to vote for Weoley Castle Ruins after the project reached the semi-final stage in the Best Heritage category of the National Lottery Awards.

The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects. The first round of public voting runs from 9am on Tuesday 31 May and ends at midday on Monday 20 June.

To vote for the Weoley Castle project visit the National Lottery Awards website or call 0844 836 9719 (Calls cost no more than 5p from a BT landline. Calls from other networks may vary, calls from mobiles could cost considerably more. Callers are advised to check with their telephone network provider to be certain of the cost. No profit will be made from the cost of the phone vote by The National Lottery).

Work completed as part of the facelift includes:

• Consolidation of the ruins
  The fragile stone remains have been cleaned and consolidated, certain features are now more evident such as the drawbridge abutment and the gate house entrance walls repaired.
• New education centre
  The new building houses toilets, classroom and a small kitchen.  It has been used for schools sessions, the AGM of the Council for British Archaeology and a summer craft event.
• New CCTV system
  Security is now centrally monitored with an observational camera on the ruins themselves.  Work with the police to minimise vandalism is ongoing.
• New viewing area Access to the ruins is by guided tour only but the ruins can be viewed from the platform.

In addition to the work carried out, a committed team of volunteer Castle Keepers has now been established. The dedicated volunteers contribute to the upkeep and maintenance of the site and carry out guided tours of the site. They meet on a monthly basis and help at open days and events.

Find more images of Weoley Castle ruins on Flickr.

New education centre at Weoley Castle Ruins