The remains of a Grade I listed building could receive vital funding from Historic England.
The Remains of the College of St Nicholas in Wallingford Castle, was placed on the national Heritage At Risk Register in 2018 and now Wallingford Town Council is applying for funding to ensure the historic ruins are preserved for years to come.
Over the years the college ruins have seen its remains damaged by vandals and the motte eroded by visitors to the gardens.
In 2017, town councillor Adrian Lloyd said the council called a specialist historic building expert to assess damage after the ruins in Castle Gardens were vandalised in 2016. At the time the council was warned repairs to St Nicholas College could cost £500,000.
Councillor Katharine Keats-Rohan is a professional historian. She explained the college was a “magnificent place” with three walls and three filled mottes.
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Councillor Keats-Rohan has said Historic England could grant as much as £250K which will pay for constructors to restore the stone. She is currently obtaining quotes from three conservation accredited architects and surveyors for the initial work to enable this application to Historic England to proceed, which could start by late April.
She said: “This castle is extraordinary on many levels, it is a very important place.”
She added: “Misuse of the castle continues, I find it very depressing. Youngsters are getting in at night and sitting on the top causing stones to be displaced.”
Councillor Ros Lester said: “Any funding would be good, we have to try and protect it and put it right and try and stop the vandalism.”
St Nicholas College was founded by Robert D’Oyley inside his castle walls at Wallingford.
A Historic England spokesman said after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, from 1536, the college was used by fellows of Christ Church in Oxford as a refuge from plague.
The buildings fell into disrepair after the Civil War siege of the castle and only sections of the walls survive, with the masonry badly affected by the weather.
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