Historian Dr David Starkey's Appeal to keep Anglo-Saxon gold hoard in West Midlands
bbc
13-Jan-2010

Historian Dr David Starkey has backed a campaign to keep the UK's largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold in the region it was unearthed.

The appeal, launched at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, aims to raise £3.3m to buy the Staffordshire Hoard which was discovered last July.

Up to 1,500 artefacts were found in a field near Lichfield by metal detecting enthusiast Terry Herbert.

"Archaeological finds don't come any bigger than this," said Dr Starkey.

He added: "It's so important, and the figures - 1,500 objects, 5.5kg of gold - it's big, big, big."

Dr Starkey said it transformed the history of the Midlands from being an Anglo-Saxon "obscure Brummie slum" into the "centre of England".

He added: "It's only six months since these things were found. They've barely been conserved. All the study, all the work has got to start right here."

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