The return of the Staffordshire Hoard

The Staffordshire Hoard has returned to its home county and has just gone on display in the Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent. I couldn't wait to see the new pieces they have now prepared for exhibition - and to revisit the amazing pieces that were first shown in Birmingham last year.

The fundraising is on - not long now to pull together the money to keep it in Staffordshire. The ArtFund are driving this and you can see more at the Staffordshire Hoard website

It was just as exciting waiting in the queue to see the latest pieces. A couple in front of me had come from Cornwall, and as the kids were waiting, enthusiastic characters (some in Anglo-Saxon influenced costume) were there to entertain.

This is a not only a major historical find - the Hoard is magical and great fun

More about the Hoard:

The Staffordshire Hoard is an unparalleled treasure find dating from Anglo-Saxon times. Both the quality and quantity of this unique treasure are remarkable. The story of how it came to be left in the Staffordshire soil is likely to be more remarkable still.

The Hoard was first discovered in July 2009. The find is likely to spark decades of debate among archaeologists, historians and enthusiasts.

Leslie Webster, Former Keeper, Department of Prehistory and Europe, British Museum, has already said:

This is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England? as radically, if not more so, as the Sutton Hoo discoveries. Absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells.

The Hoard
The Hoard comprises in excess 1,500 individual items. Most are gold, although some are silver. Many are decorated with precious stones. The quality of the craftsmanship displayed on many items is supreme, indicating possible royal ownership.

Stylistically most items appear to date from the seventh century, although there is already debate among experts about when the Hoard first entered the ground.

This was a period of great turmoil. England did not yet exist. A number of kingdoms with tribal loyalties vied with each other in a state of semi-perpetual warfare, with the balance of power constantly ebbing and flowing.

England was also split along religious lines. Christianity, introduced during the Roman occupation then driven to near extinction, was once again the principal religion across most of England

The exact spot where the Hoard lay hidden for a millennium and a half cannot yet be revealed. However we can say that it lay at the heart of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. There is approximately 5 kg of gold and 1.3 kg of silver (Sutton Hoo had 1.66kg of gold).