This is just a quick note to flag up a great talk by an excellent speaker coming up at Walsall Local History Centre on Monday 3rd March 2014, when Dr. Chris Upton will be hosting a talk ‘The Kingdom of Mercia and the Staffordshire Hoard’.
The Staffordshire Hoard is a continuing and wondrous fascination to all local (and indeed, national) historians, and this is a great chance to hear about the unique local discovery by a true expert.
The talk costs just two quid, which is a veritable bargain to hear such a distinguished speaker on this specialist and controversial subject. It would also be nice to show your support for the History Centre in these difficult times.
The staff of the history centre have made some remarkable contributions to the Brownhills Blog, and I’d like to draw readers attention to some of them, like the Yates Map of Staffordshire and The great Walsall Wood subsidence mystery or even The lost mortuary in Bullings Heath.
There is an excellent team at Walsall Local History Centre who provide a largely free service to everyone from serious family historians to muppets like me involved in the most bizarre bits of local history. This service is the jewel in Walsall’s cultural crown and we need to cherish and protect it.
The Staffordshire Hoard – Image from the Portable Antiquities Scheme Flickr Stream licensed under Creative Commons.
Public talk will put The Staffordshire Hoard in context
Walsall Local History Centre is continuing its popular series of public talks next month, when its latest guest speaker will focus on the glittering prizes to be found in Staffordshire’s archaeology and history.
This time, Dr Chris Upton, Reader in Public History at Newman University, Birmingham, will be speaking on ‘The Kingdom of Mercia and the Staffordshire Hoard’ on Monday 3 March at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. The evening will close at 9pm.
Dr Upton will uncover the story of The Staffordshire Hoard, a spectacular gold and silver treasure comprising more than 3,500 items which was found by a metal detectorist in a field close to Brownhills in 2009, and will place it in context in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia, of which Walsall was once part.
Admission to the illustrated talk costs just £2.00 and advance booking is essential by telephoning 01922 721305.
Free parking and disabled facilities are available on site.
Walsall Local History Centre is the archives service and local studies library for the Walsall borough and is part of Walsall Council.
Further information about Walsall Local History Centre may be found on the Centre’s website: www.walsall.gov.uk/localhistorycentre
Information about The Staffordshire Hoard may be found on a dedicated website:
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Dear Bob,
Re Stafford-shire Hoard and your previous comments about it being linked to Brownhills.
I moved to Brownhills Staffordshire in 1960 in 1974 without moving house I was living in Brownhills West Midlands. Having paid rates to Staffordshire for 14 years all of a sudden pupils at Brownhills schools would have to pay to go to the Stafford Schools Sailing Centre at Chasewater, free if you lived in Staffordshire.
The Boundary at that time crossed the middle of the reservoir. In 1994 the Boundary was moved again in the most extraordinary way, most of the nice bits being moved to Staffordshire.
I have no doubt that if we were still in Staffordshire it would have been called the Brownhills Hoard.
Certainly when it was hidden it would have been in Mercia and Stoke on Trent certainly was never in Mercia.
Regards
George
The King’s Helmet….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-46291230