Tamworth Borough Council is excited to unveil large crown sculpture for this year’s Athelstan 1100 celebrations.
A community craft project, uniting community groups and school children, has created a modern, sculptural interpretation of King Athelstan’s crown, celebrating the legacy the first king of all England and grandson of Alfred the Great.
The project has encouraged community groups and school children to explore heritage, creativity, and symbolism, honouring Tamworth’s and England’s early royal history in a bold, contemporary form.
Led by Tamworth Borough Council as part of its castle handcrafted heritage programme, the project invited people of all ages to connect with the past through making and storytelling. Handcrafted heritage celebrates local history through traditional crafts. From blacksmithing and ceramics to textiles and glass, the programme helps people of all ages connect with Tamworth’s past through creativity.
More than 150 people have been involved in designing and making the two metres wide by three metres high crown, exploring Anglo-Saxon heritage and expressing their ideas through traditional hand-embossing techniques.
Each decorative panel is made from a total of 600 recycled aluminium drinks cans, giving the sculpture its unique texture and reflective surface. In places, the original colours of the cans still shine through demonstrating subtle reminders of its everyday origins and sustainable message.
To create the panels a careful and layered process turned the discarded materials into a shared artwork of meaning and beauty. This included cleaning and flattening aluminium cans, adding Anglo-Saxon designs using inspiration from the Staffordshire Hoard, forming images by hand, using pens, styluses and often small hammers and pointed metal tools. The panels were finished by polishing with soft wipes to bring out the detail and shine in the metal.
The panels feature hand embossed designs inspired by the Staffordshire Hoard and Anglo-Saxon visual culture; this has included representation of:
- Ravens – wisdom and protection
- Boars – strength and bravery
- Horses – freedom and nobility
- Fish – movement and sustenance
- Knotwork and interlace – unity and eternity
- Geometric patterns – from weapons, armour, and ceremonial objects
These motifs connect the artwork to the world of Saxon kings, warriors, and craftspeople, giving each panel its own story.
The crown was designed and built by Debbie and John Todd of Protean Art. Debbie led the creative workshops and assembled the hand-embossed panels and John constructed the steel crown framework.
As part of the project, the crown was developed through community workshops with Flax Hill Junior Academy, 1st Tamworth Guides and Sacred Heart Craft Group.
The crown will be installed at St. Editha’s Church in Tamworth at the start of the Athelstan 1100 Celebrations commencing on 19 July 2025.
The project is generously funded by Arts & Travel sponsorship, a company based in Lichfield, specialising in bespoke travel arrangements for the art world.
Councillor Lewis Smith, portfolio holder for people services, engagement and leisure, heritage, for Tamworth Borough Council, said: “The crown is a fitting artistic and cultural symbol that both honours and celebrates King Athelstan’s legacy and Tamworth’s role in Saxon history.
“We’re excited to unveil this amazing community piece of art at St Editha’s as part of our Athelstan 1100 festival, it really is something very special for this year’s event.
“Bringing local talent, community groups and children together with creative art is a key part to these celebrations, and we hope that many people will enjoy visiting the crown during the week of celebration.”
The Athelstan 1100 festival week of celebrations, delivered by Tamworth Borough Council and St Editha’s Church, takes place from 19 –27 July and includes Anglo-Saxon living history, demonstrations, performances, live music and much more.
Notes:
Tamworth, during the Anglo-Saxon times, was the capital of the Kingdom of Mercia, and one of the most powerful kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England.
Athelstan, King of Mercia, was considered by many historians as the first King of England. Athelstan was also the nephew and ward of Our Lady of the Mercians, Aethelflaed.
For more information visit the castle website here: www.tamworthcastle.co.uk.