A PERMANENT display of up to 80 items from the Staffordshire Hoard could open at Tamworth Castle by 2014.
Officials at Tamworth Borough Council were discussing the plans – and revealed they were working on opening an interim exhibition of 14 items within the next six months.
Members of the council's cabinet committee were being asked to endorse spending £15,000 on the temporary exhibition, which could be open to the public as early as May.
They were also asked to support the total redevelopment of the Tamworth Story exhibition, which would feature four cabinets of the gold, silver and other metallic items from the multi-million-pound Hoard.
"Tamworth's longer-term ambition is to have a permanent display of selected Hoard items at the castle," a council report states.
"This would require the redevelopment of the whole of the Tamworth Story gallery space within the castle.
"We have commissioned an initial design proposal which makes provision for a maximum of four display cabinets in which to have a permanent display of items from the Staffordshire Hoard."
The report states that the cabinets would contain high-security measures such as individual alarms. Each cabinet could house 15 to 20 items each.
"Our ambition would be to agree a minimum number of items that we could permanently display at Tamworth Castle and agree with all partners the rotation of some of the 'star items'," the report states.
External funding is expected to be required to fund the cabinets.
It is hoped that the permanent display would be open to the public by July 2014.
Tamworth Herald
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