Culture minister supports keeping gold hoard in West Midlands
Oct 8 2009 by Terry Grimley, Birmingham Post
The campaign to keep the Staffordshire Hoard in the West Midlands received a boost yesterday when culture minister Margaret Hodge pledged her support.
Speaking at the Museum Association conference in London, she said the hoard, which gives a new insight into the 8th century Midlands kingdom of Mercia, could play a vital role in helping local people feel a sense of place.
She said: “The Staffordshire Hoard offers an incredible – and completely unique – insight into Anglo Saxon times. It may take many years or decades for it to give up all its secrets but, while this scholarly research goes on, the pieces must go on public show.
“And I firmly believe their permanent home should be in the West Midlands where people will be able to enjoy – and marvel at – their Saxon heritage for generations to come, because finds like this tell us about our past, and help to define our sense of place and identity – and I think the queues around the block of people eager to see the find where it is currently displayed in Birmingham is testament to that”.
The hoard, consisting of about 1,500 mainly gold items, was discovered in a field near Brownhills in July by Terry Herbert, an amateur metal-detector enthusiast.
The find – the largest of its kind, which experts say will rewrite Anglo Saxon history – was made public last month.
Birmingham-based archaeologists have been involved in the retrieval of the hoard from the beginning, and a small selection of the finest items has attracted about 40,000 people to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery since they went on display there on September 25, with opening hours extended to cope with numbers.
Birmingham City Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council have joined forces in an attempt to retain the hoard in the region, and a fundraising appeal was launched on Monday.
Although it has been formally declared treasure, which opens the way for museums to bid for it, no cash value has yet been attached to it.
After the initial exhibition closes on Tuesday the hoard will be moved to the British Museum for evaluation, after which museums will have four months to raise funds to buy it.
Mrs Hodge’s support was welcomed yesterday by Coun Martin Mullaney, cabinet member for leisure and culture.
He said: “We want to work with the museum in Stoke-on-Trent and people like Lichfield and Tamworth district councils, because they were at the heart of Mercia, and the British Museum is supporting that.
“We have about 80 items on display in the gallery and there are 1,500 in total, so there are going to be issues of conservation and display which will require revenue funding.”
The exhibition is open until 11pm on Saturday as part of the Light Night programme of evening cultural events.
