Staffordshire Hoard Gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Dave Freak is fascinated by a permanent gallery dedicated to displaying the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found
When Simon Cane, who was the interim director of Birmingham Museums Trust at the time, announced that it had received a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) award towards the creation of a dedicated Staffordshire Hoard Gallery, he described the find as “our Tutankhamun”.
How the hoard rates alongside the discovery of the tomb of the young Egyptian pharaoh in the 1920s is debatable, but there’s no doubt that the find has become a phenomenon.
When a number of items were briefly exhibited at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2009, 42,000 people visited over 19 days, prompting queues of up to five hours and extended opening times.
Stream of visitors
A joint fundraising campaign between Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent councils has led to the Staffordshire Hoard earning a permanent home in the city. And while there are no longer five-hour queues, there remains a steady stream of visitors, ensuring that the displays at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are rarely quiet.
A key factor in the hoard’s appeal is how it was discovered: not by teams of qualified archaeologists as part of a scheduled dig, but by an amateur metal detectorist.
Around 500 objects were initially found by Terry Herbert in 2009, barely buried in a regularly ploughed field, on the edge of a hill overlooking Watling Street – the former Roman road, now the busy A5 – near the village of Hammerwich in Staffordshire. With more than 4,000 fragments now unearthed, the hoard is Britain’s largest treasure trove and one of its most important Anglo-Saxon finds.
The timing of the £3.2m find during a deep recession has only added to the story’s appeal, prompting plenty of “I wish I’d found that!” comments from visitors. So it is fitting that Birmingham’s Staffordshire Hoard Gallery, which opened in October, should begin with the story of the unearthing.
The gallery is promoted by large banners and a giant 2D Anglo-Saxon warrior at the front of the museum. But the space itself is buried towards the back the Grade II*-listed building, close to the Great Charles Street entrance.
Black and gold signage directs visitors through the Round Room, past the pre-Raphaelites and into the relative far reaches of the museum. It is in Gallery 32, previously home to Greeks, Romans and the ancient Near East. The floor space is compact, yet with level 3’s ancient Egypt gallery visible above, it doesn’t feel too enclosed.
A preceding room, with a few chairs, a television, branding and odd furniture (presumably for waiting crowds), is distracting, but the main gallery is well laid out with ornate screens, clear interpretation and a video of interviews with key figures.
They include an archaeologist, curator, conservator and Herbert. In a nice touch, we hear how Duncan Slarke, a Birmingham-based finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, simply said “Wow!” when faced with Herbert’s dirt-covered goodies for the first time.
Overview
Wall-mounted panels give a brief overview of the find – more than 4,000 items, 11lbs of gold, 3lbs of silver – and present key questions: who buried the hoard, why and when did they bury it, and why in this location?
Interestingly, only one of those questions – the date of the burial (estimated around 650-670AD) – is answered. Although theories abound, including an offering, ransom and battle loot, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know why it was stashed away or by whom as the site contains no buildings, burials or signs of battle – an air of mystery is a good element in any engaging narrative.
Research is ongoing, though the items, many of which were stripped from weapons and Christian crosses, have revealed plenty of secrets.
The introduction tells two stories. First, of the Anglo-Saxon people of Mercia, whose lands stretched from Wales to East Anglia, from the Humber to the Thames; and second, that of the conservation.
In a case of CSI: Staffordshire, the detailed process of recording, photographing, decision-making and eventually cleaning is revealed as clumps of mud are x-rayed and broken down, and fragile soft gold items are cleaned gently with thorns.
The Louvre’s laboratory suggests that the garnet found hailed from north India or the Czech Republic, while elsewhere we discover how Byzantine coins were melted down and reused, Roman glass was recycled and the ways in which intricate designs were influenced by Scandinavian and Germanic sources.
Maps and timelines show parallel developments of Islamic, Mayan and Byzantine cultures. A small model village layout and a case of finds (including iron spears, a small pot, a bronze needle and tweezers) from Anglo-Saxon burials discovered in Beckford, Worcestershire, in the 1950s expand the story further.
Keeping with the forensics theme, the majority of items are displayed in hollowed white foam material in matchbox-sized plastic cases. Visitors are able to see these more clearly than the naked eye allows thanks to a touchscreen table, microscope displays, handy magnifying glasses and some impressive replicas that, for example, show the exact placing of the pommel caps on a sword.
Several of the replicas can be handled, with the largest – a scaled-up, red, 1.5-storey-high filigree monolith –acting as a focal point in the room.
The Mead Hall and Treasury areas are two other central features. The hall is a small seated table area, with carved pillars, audio extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and Beowulf (spoken in Old English), tapestry and a board game.
The enclosed Treasury space houses some of the more valued items: a pair of sword pyramids with cloisonné and blue glass decoration, a crumpled Christian cross (and replica) and the Mystery Object, possibly from a shield, or a stopper or chalice lid.
Home fit for a treasure trove
While other replicas and relics can also be seen at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, Lichfield Cathedral, Tamworth Castle and on a tour of community venues across the region, Birmingham’s permanent hoard gallery is a fine home for the trove.
The challenge of successfully displaying hundreds of fragments alongside the more complete exquisitely crafted larger pieces has been met, while the inclusion of key figures in the find and conservation provides a fascinating and human route into deeper stories.
The internal branding in the venue does jar, but given the position of the gallery within the building and expected popularity of the hoard, the need for bold signage is understandable.
As time progresses, the behind-the-scenes research is likely to reveal more about the most famous Anglo-Saxon discovery since Sutton Hoo, and it will be interesting to see how the gallery responds to the developments.
Dave Freak is a writer, editor and arts consultant based in the West Midlands
Although there are thousands of fragments in the Staffordshire Hoard, many of them are tiny. The challenge for us as the exhibition designer was to allow people to be wowed by the scale and significance of the find but also to get them to unpick the amazing craftsmanship.
When you look closely at the detail, it is astonishing; some pieces have four marks per millimetre. The exhibition also had to provide a window onto the time and who made the pieces as well as the elite warrior force that would have used them.
The conservation table plays a pivotal role. It places the visitor at the heart of the investigation that is still ongoing. It allows us to reveal some of the science and craft behind the restoration and categorisation.
People can peer at pieces under microscopes. They can also see how the fragments fit onto a sword or piece of armour, alongside original artefacts. It’s also a very flexible display system; it allows the curators to take pieces off for research and then regroup things.
The inspiration came from looking at photos of when the hoard was first discovered, seeing snapshots of the professionals at work. I like the way it reinforces the idea of the collection as a work in progress.
From the feedback we have had, I think it has been successful. From the table, people look at the wider Anglo-Saxon context. We have taken a very immersive approach to showing them how the pieces were made on the one hand, and how they might have been used on the other.
In this way, the table underpins the narrative and the physical dynamics of the exhibition space.
Yvonne Golds is a director at Real Studios
15.01.2015
We said the hoard was discovered near Hammersmith. In fact, it was discovered near Hammerwich.
How the hoard rates alongside the discovery of the tomb of the young Egyptian pharaoh in the 1920s is debatable, but there’s no doubt that the find has become a phenomenon.
When a number of items were briefly exhibited at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2009, 42,000 people visited over 19 days, prompting queues of up to five hours and extended opening times.
Stream of visitors
A joint fundraising campaign between Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent councils has led to the Staffordshire Hoard earning a permanent home in the city. And while there are no longer five-hour queues, there remains a steady stream of visitors, ensuring that the displays at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are rarely quiet.
A key factor in the hoard’s appeal is how it was discovered: not by teams of qualified archaeologists as part of a scheduled dig, but by an amateur metal detectorist.
Around 500 objects were initially found by Terry Herbert in 2009, barely buried in a regularly ploughed field, on the edge of a hill overlooking Watling Street – the former Roman road, now the busy A5 – near the village of Hammerwich in Staffordshire. With more than 4,000 fragments now unearthed, the hoard is Britain’s largest treasure trove and one of its most important Anglo-Saxon finds.
The timing of the £3.2m find during a deep recession has only added to the story’s appeal, prompting plenty of “I wish I’d found that!” comments from visitors. So it is fitting that Birmingham’s Staffordshire Hoard Gallery, which opened in October, should begin with the story of the unearthing.
The gallery is promoted by large banners and a giant 2D Anglo-Saxon warrior at the front of the museum. But the space itself is buried towards the back the Grade II*-listed building, close to the Great Charles Street entrance.
Black and gold signage directs visitors through the Round Room, past the pre-Raphaelites and into the relative far reaches of the museum. It is in Gallery 32, previously home to Greeks, Romans and the ancient Near East. The floor space is compact, yet with level 3’s ancient Egypt gallery visible above, it doesn’t feel too enclosed.
A preceding room, with a few chairs, a television, branding and odd furniture (presumably for waiting crowds), is distracting, but the main gallery is well laid out with ornate screens, clear interpretation and a video of interviews with key figures.
They include an archaeologist, curator, conservator and Herbert. In a nice touch, we hear how Duncan Slarke, a Birmingham-based finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, simply said “Wow!” when faced with Herbert’s dirt-covered goodies for the first time.
Overview
Wall-mounted panels give a brief overview of the find – more than 4,000 items, 11lbs of gold, 3lbs of silver – and present key questions: who buried the hoard, why and when did they bury it, and why in this location?
Interestingly, only one of those questions – the date of the burial (estimated around 650-670AD) – is answered. Although theories abound, including an offering, ransom and battle loot, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know why it was stashed away or by whom as the site contains no buildings, burials or signs of battle – an air of mystery is a good element in any engaging narrative.
Research is ongoing, though the items, many of which were stripped from weapons and Christian crosses, have revealed plenty of secrets.
The introduction tells two stories. First, of the Anglo-Saxon people of Mercia, whose lands stretched from Wales to East Anglia, from the Humber to the Thames; and second, that of the conservation.
In a case of CSI: Staffordshire, the detailed process of recording, photographing, decision-making and eventually cleaning is revealed as clumps of mud are x-rayed and broken down, and fragile soft gold items are cleaned gently with thorns.
The Louvre’s laboratory suggests that the garnet found hailed from north India or the Czech Republic, while elsewhere we discover how Byzantine coins were melted down and reused, Roman glass was recycled and the ways in which intricate designs were influenced by Scandinavian and Germanic sources.
Maps and timelines show parallel developments of Islamic, Mayan and Byzantine cultures. A small model village layout and a case of finds (including iron spears, a small pot, a bronze needle and tweezers) from Anglo-Saxon burials discovered in Beckford, Worcestershire, in the 1950s expand the story further.
Keeping with the forensics theme, the majority of items are displayed in hollowed white foam material in matchbox-sized plastic cases. Visitors are able to see these more clearly than the naked eye allows thanks to a touchscreen table, microscope displays, handy magnifying glasses and some impressive replicas that, for example, show the exact placing of the pommel caps on a sword.
Several of the replicas can be handled, with the largest – a scaled-up, red, 1.5-storey-high filigree monolith –acting as a focal point in the room.
The Mead Hall and Treasury areas are two other central features. The hall is a small seated table area, with carved pillars, audio extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and Beowulf (spoken in Old English), tapestry and a board game.
The enclosed Treasury space houses some of the more valued items: a pair of sword pyramids with cloisonné and blue glass decoration, a crumpled Christian cross (and replica) and the Mystery Object, possibly from a shield, or a stopper or chalice lid.
Home fit for a treasure trove
While other replicas and relics can also be seen at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, Lichfield Cathedral, Tamworth Castle and on a tour of community venues across the region, Birmingham’s permanent hoard gallery is a fine home for the trove.
The challenge of successfully displaying hundreds of fragments alongside the more complete exquisitely crafted larger pieces has been met, while the inclusion of key figures in the find and conservation provides a fascinating and human route into deeper stories.
The internal branding in the venue does jar, but given the position of the gallery within the building and expected popularity of the hoard, the need for bold signage is understandable.
As time progresses, the behind-the-scenes research is likely to reveal more about the most famous Anglo-Saxon discovery since Sutton Hoo, and it will be interesting to see how the gallery responds to the developments.
Dave Freak is a writer, editor and arts consultant based in the West Midlands
In focus exhibition design
Although there are thousands of fragments in the Staffordshire Hoard, many of them are tiny. The challenge for us as the exhibition designer was to allow people to be wowed by the scale and significance of the find but also to get them to unpick the amazing craftsmanship.
When you look closely at the detail, it is astonishing; some pieces have four marks per millimetre. The exhibition also had to provide a window onto the time and who made the pieces as well as the elite warrior force that would have used them.
The conservation table plays a pivotal role. It places the visitor at the heart of the investigation that is still ongoing. It allows us to reveal some of the science and craft behind the restoration and categorisation.
People can peer at pieces under microscopes. They can also see how the fragments fit onto a sword or piece of armour, alongside original artefacts. It’s also a very flexible display system; it allows the curators to take pieces off for research and then regroup things.
The inspiration came from looking at photos of when the hoard was first discovered, seeing snapshots of the professionals at work. I like the way it reinforces the idea of the collection as a work in progress.
From the feedback we have had, I think it has been successful. From the table, people look at the wider Anglo-Saxon context. We have taken a very immersive approach to showing them how the pieces were made on the one hand, and how they might have been used on the other.
In this way, the table underpins the narrative and the physical dynamics of the exhibition space.
Yvonne Golds is a director at Real Studios
Project data
- Cost £943,000
- Main funders Heritage Lottery Fund; Garfield Weston; Arts Council England
- Architect Associated Architects
- Exhibition design Real Studios
- Principal contractor The Hub
- Graphic design Surface 3
- Lighting design Studio ZNA
- Building contractor Barnwoods Shopfitting
- QS Turner & Townsend
- M&E consultant Mott MacDonald
- Films and interactive Spiral
- Display cases ClickNetherfield
15.01.2015
We said the hoard was discovered near Hammersmith. In fact, it was discovered near Hammerwich.