Aethelflaed, also known as Lady of the Mercians, was the eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great. Justifiably thought of as England’s forgotten Queen; she was a formidable leader in a shadowy history of the dark ages. She only one child, a daughter, AElfwynn, and when her husband Aethelred died in 911, she ruled Mercia alone. *

Spending much of her time in Tamworth, she raised her nephew Aethelstan here. He would go on to become the first King of all England. On 12 June, 918 Aethelflaed died in Tamworth and a few days later was finally laid to rest in St Oswald’s Priory, Gloucester, beside her husband.*

*Information from a signboard near Aethelflaed’s statue in front of Tamworth Castle

In addition to displaying items from the Staffordshire hoard Tamworth Castle also has on display the Glascote Torc.

The Glascote Torc is an Iron Age, gold, silver and copper ally torc, probably dating from the 5th-4th century BC. The Torc was found in 1943 by Mr S. G. bates and Mr G. E. Croshaw whilst digging a drainage ditch in Glascote boat yard next to the Coventry Canal between Glascote and Amington.

In 1970 when Mrs G Bates read an article on ancient torcs she realised the significance of the gold band the family had in a box in their attic.

During our visit to Tamworth castle a descendent of the family told us personal family anecdotes about the the Torc before they family, after reading the newspaper article, realised it had historical significance.

Following this discovery the Torc was held and displayed in The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. After many years of campaigning, in 2025 the Torc has returned home, on loan to Tamworth Castle. It is displayed in a gallery next to the Staffordshire Hoard.

No photography is allowed of the Staffordshire Hoard or the Torc. The picture above shows the replica of the Torc made in 2007.

We recently learned via a random YouTube video that Tamworth Castle holds some pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard. On a sunny Sunday afternoon we took the opportunity to visit the castle which has a lot more to offer in addition to the Staffordshire Hoard. Tamworth Castle covers almost 1000 years of history from its early Anglo-Saxon roots to its life as a museum today.

You can find out about life at the castle throughout the eras, including Medieval, Tudor and Victorian, as you explore its many rooms, chambers and corridors – just beware of the dungeon and the haunted bedroom!

The castle’s walls hold a wealth of stories and legends, from expelled nuns to royal visits and you can discover them all as you step back through time.

Our newest exhibition ‘Battle and Tribute’ focuses on Tamworth’s Anglo-Saxon heritage as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Mercia, where you can get a close up look at exquisite pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard.

The iconic fin is instantly recognisable, while moving between the two sections gives a sense of confinement onboard a submarine. The solitary figure, perhaps looking up to where danger may come from or to the surface of the sea and its promise of  fresh air and sunlight, gives a human scale and a focal point for acts if renenbrance.

It is ten years since my previous visit to the National Memorial Arboretum. The Memorial Arboretum is still as peaceful and moving as I remembered. There are now over 400 memorials so it is impossible to see them all during one visit.

This year this the 80^th anniversary of the D-Day landings so the Arboretum is exploring the events of WWII and people that were affected by them.

We chose this as the theme for our visit whereas our previous visit in 2014 followed a First World War Centenary trail centred on WWI memorials.

When we arrived, we had lunch before visiting ‘The Year Was 1944’ exhibition. This culminates in a moving film by sand artist Kseniya Simonova. She manipulates sand to trace the journey of one man and his family from the outbreak of war through the beaches of Normandy and on to the present day.

By the end of the film, I felt quite emotional.

We then walked around the Arboretum taking in highlighted memorials relevant to the events of 1944. The route also introduced me to memorials that I hadn’t seen on my previous visit.

There is still another area that I haven’t yet explored in the outer meadow and woodland area of the Arboretum…

Artist, Bruce Sherratt depicts the Covid-19 Pandemic in what he refers to as ‘Tropical Surrealism’.

PANDEMIC 202 is Bruce’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, expressed through his engagement with the emotions raised by the crisis. The colourful kaleidoscopic palette used in the painting suggests a dream-like, hallucinogenic narrative that combines with symbolic, mythological and surrealistic forms to intrigue and unsettle the viewer in equal measure. *

* From nformation next to the painting

Some special moments and memories from 2022, one from each month of the year. The photographs are taken from a calendar that I created for myself and due to the printing deadline, December’s photograph is also from November.

1. The Inclined Plane, Coalport, 2. Lichfield Cathedral, 3. Local Pathway, 4. Llangollen Canal Nr Chirk Aqueduct, 5. violet’s Tea Room Bridgnorth, 6. Waddesden Manor, 7. Tewkesbury, 8. Sandringham Church, 9. Attingham Park, 10. The Long Walk, Windsor, 11. The Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon, 12. Stratford-upon-Avon

The first day of the bank holiday commemorating the Platinum Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II saw us visiting Boscobel House. Boscobel House is famous as a hiding place for King Charles II when fleeing for his life after his defeat in the Civil War. He spent a night in one of priest holes in the hunting lodge.

King Charles II also spent a day hiding in a nearby Oak tree as Cromwell’s soldiers searched for him below. A descendant of the oak tree can be seen nearby in a place that would once have been covered in oak woodland. The vision of English Heritage is to repopulate the area with oak trees to reconnect the site with its heritage.

Within the house garden another Royal Connection can be found; a plaque beneath an oak tree commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

This tree seedling from the Royal Oak in the adjacent field was planted by Augustus Bishop of Lichfield as a memorial of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The parent tree by sheltering King Charles II preserved the Royal Line from extinction.

The daughter tree commemorates the unexpectedly long reign (about 200 years later) of his illustrious successor.

English Heritage are developing the site so there is more to explore than there was previously. We were time constrained so it was not possibly to venture on the walk to the nearby White Ladies Priory.