Treasures of the Staffordshire Hoard brought to life at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery

An exciting interactive touring exhibition which tells the fascinating story of how the Staffordshire Hoard was found and saved for the nation will be on show on the balcony at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery from 17 March to 10 May 2015.

“Treasure!” is created by the museums team at Staffordshire County Council with the help of the Mercian Trail partnership, and is aimed at both adults and children.

Tina Woodward, Shropshire Council’s deputy Cabinet member for visitor economy, said:

“This is a fantastic chance to step back in time at Shrewsbury Museum to the age of the Staffordshire Hoard, and see the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia brought to life. You can meet the fierce warriors who wore the famous treasure, witness demonstrations of some of the techniques skilled craftspeople used to create it, and hear the Old English music, stories and poetry that inspired them.”

On 11 and 12 April, the museum will be playing host to a troop of Anglo-Saxon thegns, ladies and craftspeople demonstrating techniques from weaving to manuscript writing, and keen to discuss all aspects of life in the 6th-7th centuries.

Craft demonstrations will include tablet-weaving (relating to finds in the museum’s Roman gallery) and pressblech-foil making – a technique used to make some items in the Staffordshire Hoard.

Visitors will see a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon warrior grave display and part of the museum will become a micro Anglo-Saxon encampment for the weekend.

This drop-in event is run in association with The Thegns of Mercia (www.thegns.org), a not-for-profit educational living-history and reconstructive archaeology group based in the Midlands. The group specialises in reconstructing finds from 449-1066 AD, promoting learning about historic cultures from this age, and bringing this historic period to life.

For more information email museumeducation@shropshire.gov.uk, or ring 01743 258888.