TV’s Tony Robinson supports Herefordshire Hoard campaign

[Hereford Voice]

TV’s Time Team star Sir Tony Robinson has shown his support for our campaign to bring the hoard home to Herefordshire.

As well as playing Baldrick in the television series Blackadder, and presenting Around the World by Train, Sir Tony is an amateur historian and archaeologist with a keen interest in Anglo Saxon England.

Learning about our campaign to bring the hoard home to Herefordshire, Sir Tony says:

“I’ve always been fascinated by Alfred the Great and his battles alongside his Mercian allies against the great Viking Army. The Herefordshire Hoard offers a fantastic insight into this world and even gives us solid evidence about a previously unrecognised alliance between Alfred and the King of Mercia. It’s a hoard of national importance and should certainly have pride of place in Hereford Museum.”

Sir Tony’s support is backed up by Herefordshire’s Lord-Lieutenant’s. Edward Harley, OBE, says:

"I am delighted to offer support to this very significant campaign to bring the Herefordshire Hoard back to the county.

“The hoard is the single most important archaeological find from the county in half a century, and is of national significance, rewriting our understanding of history at a time when the English nation was forming from a number of separate kingdoms into a unified country.

“The beauty and rarity of the objects alone are culturally valuable and the hoard tells us so much about society during the Anglo-Saxon and Viking period. The fundraising campaign to acquire this treasure, to give the people of the county and the whole country, the chance to see it publicly displayed in our beautiful city of Hereford, is an aspiration I wholeheartedly support."

Upcoming events

The Herefordshire Hoard roadshow storms into Leominster Community Centre on Saturday 2 July. Be there between 11-3pm to see costumed re-enactors who have some old tales to tell about life as a Viking.

The next time to see items from the Herefordshire Hoard at the Museum Resource and Learning Centre is between 10.30-3.30pm on Wednesday 6 July. There is no need to book onto this free event – simply turn up at Hereford’s Friars Street venue to feast your eyes on the treasure.

Meanwhile, an illustrated lecture by Herefordshire archaeologist, Peter Reavill, takes place at the same venue between 10-12pm, Thursday 21 July.

For details of other events, and to keep up-to-date with all hoard-related news, visit the official website.