[3] Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Ruitone,[4] the village acquired its unusual compound name in the twelfth century when a castle was built, and it became the major manor of eleven local townships.

Some of the eleven ancient townships, mostly situated to the north and west of Ruyton, still survive as hamlets today; although some, like Coton, are just a collection of farm buildings.

Lying in the Welsh Marches, Ruyton Castle was rebuilt by 1313 but was destroyed again by Owain Glyndŵr during his rising against England beginning in 1400.

[7] In 1308, an attempt was made to refound the town as New Ruyton, when it was awarded a charter that briefly gave it the same powers as the County of Bristol.

It was conceived by the London architect Stanley Vaughan after a visit to Ruyton, and created by local father-and-son stonemasons Warwick and Len Edwards.