The Staffordshire Hoard Gallery at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

The Staffordshire Hoard was discovered in a field in Staffordshire in 2009 by a metal detector. It is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork to be found. Likely to have been buried in the 7th century, with pieces made in the 6th and 7th centuries. The hoard was purchased by Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and Potteries Museum & Art Gallery (Stoke-on-Trent).

Staffordshire Hoard

In July 2009, Terry Herbert using a metal detector, while searching the area, discovered a hoard of Gold artefacts. Over 5 days he discovered over 244 items. He then contacted the authorities. The landowner Fred Johnson gave permission for excavations to take place on his land to find more.

The first Staffordshire Hoard Gallery opened up at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2009. When it first opened, there was long queues outside of BM & AG going around Chamberlain Square. The first excavation took place at the field on farmland near Hammerwich, Staffordshire in September 2009 by the Birmingham Archaeology and funded by English Heritage. The gallery at BM & AG opened in October 2009 attracting 40,000 people.

The hoard was first displayed at BM & AG from September to October 2009. Parts of it went on display at other galleries including the British Museum (November 2009 to April 2010).  But items were still being displayed in a temporary gallery at BM & AG until they opened permenant gallery from October 2014 onwards.

2012

I was only able to get two photos of the original Staffordshire Hoard Gallery in November 2012. At the time photos in the gallery were not allowed so only got this cardboard cut out of an Anglo-Saxon warrior.

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Also of this replica Anglo-Saxon warriors helmet. But was told you couldn't take photos in there, so I moved on. Not that I wanted to take the individual items in there at the time.

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2014

A new Staffordshire Hoard Gallery opened in October 2014, in the gallery that formerly housed the Ancient Greek and Roman collection (below the Ancient Egypt gallery).

Sign on Great Charles Street Queensway advertising the new gallery.

Unearth the story of the Staffordshire Hoard

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Heading inside BM & AG, I saw another sign pointing the way to the new Staffordshire Hoard Gallery.

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This one welcoming you to the Staffordshire Hoard Gallery.

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Also this one on the wall saying that the Staffordshire Hoard Gallery was on Level 2.

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Another sign telling you that you can get a lift to the Staffordshire Hoard Gallery, which is on Level 2.

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I got the rest of the views of the new Staffordshire Hoard Gallery from the Ancient Egypt gallery above. Surrounding the balcony of the gallery is the Frieze of the Mausoleum (it was there long before the Staffordshire Hoard moved in here).

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In the middle was this tall red object, probably representing an Ancient Anglo-Saxon item.

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Close up view of that red rectangle sculpture with gold detailing.

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Questions:

Why did they bury it? Who buried the hoard? When did they bury it? Why did they bury it there?

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In this area was Sources and techniques.

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The top of another sectioned off area with pieces of the hoard.

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Below you can see visitors having a close up look at the Staffordshire Hoard.

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2018

In November 2018, a Staffordshire Hoard golden helmet replica was unveiled at BM & AG in the Staffordshire Hoard Gallery. I took this photo in zoom in while BBC Midlands Today was making a piece about it, so didn't stick about for long. The original pieces were too fragile to reassemble into a helmet, so two replicas were made (the other one is at the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent). It's the kind of thing that the King of Mercia could have worn before the Kingdom of Mercia was conquered. And they could have been hurriedly broken up into pieces and buried, where they remained until they were found in 2009!

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Photos taken by Elliott Brown.

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