Traditionally, in Staffordshire and the West Midlands, we have held Finds Days at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent. Unfortunately due to essential rewiring work that needs to be carried out through 2021 and probably longer (It’s a big building), Birmingham Museum is closed to the public and unavailable. Our secondary …more
The latest in Amberley Publishing’s 50 Finds series is due to be published on Sunday 15th April 2018. This volume focuses on some of the exciting finds that have been found in Staffordshire since 1997, when the Portable Antiquities Scheme started. 50 finds were selected from over 12,000 recorded, and are very much a personal …more
An amazing post-Medieval decorative dress hook, 2015T908 has been donated to Tamworth Castle by a local Dosthill metal detectorist, John Willetts and the landowner. History enthusiast Mr Willetts made an exceptional discovery of a silver-gilt dress hook in the Shenstone area, not far from Tamworth in early 2016. Excited by his find, he contacted Angie Bolton, …more
Today (Wednesday 8th September) saw five more cases officially declared Treasure. All have been found through responsible metal detecting and have been reported through the Portable Antiquities Scheme. All cases have significantly increased our archaeological knowledge of life within Staffordshire. 2020T108 – A small addenda to an earlier coin hoard, 2015T702, found in the Lichfield …more
Thank you to everyone who has responded to our Finds Day survey. We had 45 answers which has given us plenty to think about. There were several reasons for doing this survey. The first one being that Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is closed for a significant length of time, so one of our main …more
During 2018, 432 finds were recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme as being found in Staffordshire. Out of these, 24 were classified as Treasure under the requirements of the Treasure Act 1996. These 24 cases included 7 finger rings, 4 coin hoards, 2 mounts, a button, a spoon, a brooch, a bell and a strap …more
On Monday 21st March, the 2018 Treasure Annual Report was laid in front of Parliament. In ‘normal’ years, the British Museum normally hold a press conference to show off some of the nicer finds and important Treasure cases of that year. However due to Covid-19 restrictions, we had to do things slightly differently this year. …more
As we celebrate 1.5 million finds on our database, I reflect upon one of the more exciting finds and retrievals of an object that I have been involved in during my four and a half years as a FLO. Near Barlaston in Staffordshire, Steve Smith, a metal detectorist living in the area discovered a small …more
I believe that the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a hugely important archaeological resource and this is something that I wanted to demonstrate with my PhD research. I have recently completed my PhD for which my thesis was entitled ‘Unstructured Data and Archaeology: The Use of LargeDatasets in Archaeological Research’. When I started my research, at The University …more
George Anson, son of William Anson and Isabella Carrier was born at Shugborough Manor, Staffordshire in 1697. Aged 15, he entered the Royal Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession.At the age of 19 in 1716, he was promoted to Lieutenant, serving aboard the HMS Hampshire. During the rest of his naval career, he …more
Every year, Birmingham Museums Trust chose one student volunteer out of all the many who volunteer for us, to be selected as our BMT Student Volunteer of the Year. This year, Victoria & I’s volunteer, Aimee Hinds won the award! Victoria nominated her for the award, to reflect the hardwork and commitment she has shown …more
