Staffordshire Hoard should return to 'real home'

A CAMPAIGN to see the Staffordshire Hoard return to its "real home" near Brownhills has been kick-started by frustrated residents.

Since it was discovered just a mile-and-a-half from Brownhills town centre in July last year, the precious collection of Anglo-Saxon artefacts, pictured, has gone on public display in both Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent.

But now members of the Brownhills Local Committee are forming a steering group to get the treasure back.

Brownhills resident Doug Birch MBE, said: "I'm not at all happy when you read and hear things about Stoke-on-Trent campaigning to get the hoard to 'come home'. It was found nowhere near Stoke-on-Trent.

"Yes, Stoke-on-Trent falls in Staffordshire, but this was found very much in the south and that's where it belongs."

More than 1,500 items, valued at £3.3 million, were unearthed in November.

Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth councils formed a committee to work towards buying the Hoard and putting it on permanent public display.

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery have already exhibited some of the treasure, with thousands of people arriving from all over the country to view it.

Despite being discovered just yards from the Walsall borough boundary, Walsall Council did not express an interest in joining the cross-authority committee.

In a statement, Councillor Mike Bird said The New Art Gallery in Walsall did not have "the required archaeological knowledge, skills and equipment to acquire, preserve and interpret the Hoard".

In last week's Advertiser, seven months after the discovery, Walsall Council declared it was "joining forces with other authorities across the Midlands to campaign for it to return to the area".

But this came too late for Park Close resident Brian Stringer.

He said: "I think a campaign to keep the Hoard as near to its home as possible should have been launched as soon as it was discovered."

The fund created to keep the Hoard in the region needs to raise £3.3 million by April 17.

If the money is not raised, the treasure could be sold on the open market.