Funding sought to keep Anglo Saxon treasure in Birmingham
Sep 25 2009 by Vicky Farncombe, Birmingham Post
A crop of Anglo Saxon gold and silver discovered in a Staffordshire field is so bountiful it will unearth the key to how England was formed.
Funding is now being sought to allow the 1,500-item haul to remain at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, where it is being kept under tight security.
Estimated to be worth seven figures, the treasure trove is mainly made up of elaborate weapons, helmet decorations, coins and Christian crosses which experts believe were trophies taken from the battlefield by victorious Mercians.
It was discovered in a farm field in July by amateur metal detector Terry Herbert who lives alone in a council house on disability benefit, and had never before found anything more valuable than a rare piece of Roman horse harness.
After excavating five bags’ worth by himself, Mr Herbert realised he had a responsibility, under the Treasury Act, to contact the experts and phoned Duncan Slarke, of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
“Seeing the material for the first time was absolutely breathtaking,” said Mr Slarke, who is based at Birmingham. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but to see it actually in boxes on a table, glistening at me, I was staggered.
“I was there for four hours just looking at the material and the finder actually called me Duncan Wow because that’s all I could say: ‘Wow.’ It was find after find after find of the most staggering quality. The impact of that day will remain with me forever.”
An eight-strong team of professionals from Birmingham Archeology were employed to carry out the excavation, thanks to a £25,000 grant from English Heritage and Staffordshire County Council.
It took them four weeks to trowel through the soil, metre square by metre square, ensuring nothing was lost.
Project manager Alex Jones, director of Birmingham Archaeology, said: “I was astonished. It’s absolutely unique. In terms of quantity and quality, it is unparallelled in archaeology.
“It’s the kind of thing that you’re lucky if you find once in a lifetime.”
The discovery of 5kg of gold is three times the amount found in the famous Sutton Hoo ship burial in 1939.
