- Glascote Torc on loan to Tamworth Castle for public display for three years
- Visitors can see new Staffordshire Hoard pieces on exhibit in the castle
- Painting on display of Tamworth town and castle’s historic past
Tamworth Borough Council is proud to announce new additions to its Tamworth Castle exhibits, including the Glascote Torc, new Staffordshire Hoard pieces and three artist paintings: one oil painting and two watercolours.
Tamworth Castle re-opened its doors last month for the Spring season with some new and exciting displays for visitors to enjoy. A big reveal of new exhibits on loan to the castle, include the long-awaited and much requested Glascote Torc. The Iron Age gold alloy collar has finally returned to its hometown, previously held in safe keeping by Birmingham Museum Trust, now displayed in the castle’s Saxon Gallery for all visitors to see for the next three years.
The castle has also received 18 previously unseen pieces of the Staffordshire Hoard. These are new loans from Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham Museum Trust adding to the Saxon Gallery visitor favourites like the pommel caps and the tiny garnet decorated eagle heads that have been retained by popular demand.
The small gold sheet and copper alloy die stamp owned by Tamworth Castle that were local metal detector finds, also remain on display.
Three more items have been revealed including two watercolour paintings, on loan from Birmingham Museum Trust. The Victorian artist, Allen Edward Everitt, born 10 April 1824 – 11 June 1882, was an English architectural artist and illustrator. A leading artist in the Birmingham area between 1850 and 1880, his work is a valuable historical record of local buildings of that period.
One watercolour shows the Great Hall, and the second the Oak Room and depict the rooms how they looked in the 19th century. Both paintings can be seen in their respective rooms over the next three years.
Finally, the Day Parlour has been chosen to showcase a rolling programme of paintings from the castle collections. A different painting will be displayed every few months based on a seasonal and event theme. The first painting on display is 'A View of St Editha's Church and The Old Paregoric Shop, Tamworth in 1856’, by the artist Henry Lark Pratt (1805 - 1873).
This beautiful oil painting, purchased with funding from the ‘Friends of Tamworth Castle’ in 2003, illustrates St Editha’s Church and a late medieval ‘paregoric’ shop, that sold soothing medicines including opium, demolished in 1936.
Along the street can be seen a shepherd driving a flock of sheep. It is an iconic reminder of the constantly changing landscape of Tamworth’s town centre as the Future High Streets regeneration project progresses.
Councillor Lewis Smith, portfolio holder for people services, engagement and leisure for Tamworth Borough Council, said: “These exciting new displays help us understand and explore our rich town history and discover new stories that demonstrate the great importance of our historic town.
“I’m delighted to see that the Glascote Torc is on loan to our castle. This piece was originally found in the early 1940s, by workmen digging a trench at a boat yard between Glascote and Amington canal. In comparison to other Torcs that have been found, Tamworth’s Glascote Torc stands out as being one of the best, so we’re very privileged to have it on display at Tamworth Castle!
“I’d encourage visitors to our castle this season to take a look at the new hoard pieces as well as the beautiful new paintings we have on display. You won’t be disappointed!”
Visitors to the castle should note that photography is not allowed in the Saxon Gallery due to copyright conditions for loan agreements with other museums.
For more information on upcoming events and opening times at Tamworth Castle, visit www.tamworthcastle.co.uk.
Notes:
The Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society (1969) reported on the Glascote Torc:
The Torc from Glascote (Plate I) was found about 1943 by Mr S Bates and Mr G Croshaw, who were employed in a boat-building yard by the Coventry Canal between Glascote and Amington, about half a mile south of Tamworth.
In February 1970, Mr. Bates wrote about his find to Ipswich Museum after his wife had read an account of the gold torcs found at Ipswich in 1968. At the request of Miss Owles, Assistant Curator of Archaeology, he sent it to Ipswich, and the Curator, Miss P Butler, then took it to the British Museum.
Extracts from Mr. Bates' account of the discovery, from a letter dated 12 March 1970, to the Keeper of the Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities at the British Museum:
“It was during the war that the torc was dug up, about 1943. I was foreman of a boat-building yard situated in the centre of a field by the Coventry Canal between the villages of Glascote and Amington and about half a mile from Tamworth. I was continually improving the yard, and it was during the digging of a trench to convey wastewater from the workshop to the canal with some workmen that the torc was discovered.
“I washed it in running water from the tap and the sandy soil fell away leaving the metal as you see it today. I sent it to our main office that was then in Birmingham, but they did not seem to be very interested and sent it back to me with a message that I should keep it as a souvenir, and it has been in my home ever since.
“Miss Owles has asked me in her letter if there is any chance that there are any more torcs in this area but I don't think so as I got the workmen to dig around for quite a distance from where it was found as at that time I thought it was the handle from a coffin and expected to find about three more. I understand that the boatyard is not now in existence but the outer walls which were of brick are still standing”.
Mr Bates and Mr Croshaw also recalled in their evidence at the coroner’s inquest at Tamworth in May 1970, that the torc was “found about twenty feet from the edge of the canal, and that the damage to the wires at the back of the collar was caused by the spade at the time of discovery.”
Other evidence showed that an excavation was not worthwhile because the site was criss-crossed with foundations and pipes from the old boatyard, and that there was reason to think that the torc was not from the bed of the canal, as the spoil from the canal appeared to have been dumped on the far bank.
From the Archaeology Data Service (1971) it is now known the damage was not caused by the spade at the time of discovery. The later assessment of the torc under a microscope showed the protruding wires to be a result of the alloy being strained to its limit in manufacture. One wire failed to attach to the terminal, and a second wire has sprung from the centre of the torc.