Shropshire Council starts £40k appeal to buy Bronze Age objects

The pendant has been described as one of the most significant pieces of Bronze Age gold metalwork ever discovered in Britain

A public appeal has begun to raise £40,000 to keep a collection of Bronze Age artefacts in the county where they were found.

The items were discovered in Shropshire in May 2018 by a metal detectorist.

The find included a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age gold pendant which was bought for £250,000 by the British Museum.

Shropshire Council said the pendant would go on display for the first time later this year.

The authority said the £40,000, if raised, would be used to acquire objects including a rare jewellery parcel wrapped in lead and an iron axe, dating to 850-650BC.

Fay Bailey, the council's museums manager, said the items and continuing work where they were found "reveal important discoveries about this period in British prehistory".

The pendant, described as one of the most significant pieces of Bronze Age gold metalwork ever discovered in the UK, is being loaned by the British Museum.

It will go on display at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery from 10 September and Shropshire Council said it hoped to be able to display the other items alongside it.

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Cecilia Motley, cabinet member for tourism, said she was confident the collection could be a "real draw" for visitors.