Express & Star

Campaign for Staffordshire Hoard monument starts

Historians, councillors and residents packed out a special meeting about a creating a monument to mark the site where the Staffordshire Hoard was discovered.

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Campaigner Brian Stringer called the meeting at the Park View Centre in Brownhills last night. The 74-year-old said he had recently been inspired after visiting the memorial at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, where John F Kennedy was shot in 1963. He said: "In the middle of the road was this little cross and that's all there was, but people were still stopping and looking at it."

He added that visitors were "fascinated by it, and I want to have a similar thing here."

The hoard was discovered in a field off the A5 at Hammerwich in 2009. Mr Stringer said he would like to see something like an observation post, complete with signs to explain the history to visitors.

He was supported in his plans by Dr Della Hooke, president of Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, Douglas Birch, chairman of the Brownhills Local Committee and Brownhills councillor Barbara Cassidy.

Dr Hooke said: "It is such an important location, there really were people queuing around the block in Birmingham to see the hoard."

Mr Birch said: "If we had some form of visitor centre or platform, it would bring people in and help to regenerate the area."

Councillor Cassidy said she would be looking to nominate a member of the public to raise the issue at the next full council meeting at Walsall on November 19.

She also asked people to write letters to authorities, such as Staffordshire County Council and Lichfield District Council, to ask them to support the idea.

Councillor Moira Greenway, from Hammerwich Parish Council, was present and at the end of the session stated that they would like to speak to representatives from the group at the next parish council meeting.

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