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Bentley Hall Cairn project - what we achieved
An exciting discovery at Bentley Cairn
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Bentley Hall Cairn project - what we achieved
Location: Walsall
What was achieved by the successfully completed Bentley Hall Cairn project, and the lasting effects it has had in the community.
By engaging the community in restoring a historic monument, this project not only created an attractive recreation area, including a new footpath making the site fully accessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs, but also encouraged a sense of local pride in what had been classed as an area of deprivation.
Open days, workshops, and talks on the history of Bentley Hall, were held at schools, youth clubs, community centres and churches across the district. Bentley Library became a focus for community involvement, not only as a useful source of information about the role of the site in the Reformation, the Civil War, and the life of Charles II, but also as a venue for small exhibitions and some of the design workshops.
All the physical improvements to the site were developed from consultation with local people, which led to over 2,000 contributions put forward for a new gateway and fencing, the garden, and improved information panels.
With help from a team of community artists, the final design featured a fence that looked like a royal crown decorated with symbols relating to King Charles II: wings instead of spikes, as a sign of freedom; and oak leaves recalling the Royal Oak. Other features included the points of the compass incorporated into the railings and six stone sculptures - four depicting scenes from King Charles’ escape after the Battle of Worcester, and two carved seats.
Higher than anticipated costs for the restoration work and landscaping led the group to seek further funding from other sources, and slightly to revise their original plans. The project attracted an additional £20,000 through a Landfill Tax Credit scheme, bringing altogether £50,000 worth of external funding into Bentley because of the cairn. The cairn and archaeological interest had previously been viewed in some quarters as a restriction to obtaining funding to develop the area, but this project proved that it could add value.
Although they did not produce a CD-ROM, and replaced the leaflets detailing a Compass Walk around the cairn with a commemorative bookmark, the project did make an unexpected archaeological discovery, revealing the likely remains of the third and last Bentley Hall.
Plans were made for a study team from Birmingham University to carry out an initial geophysical survey which may reveal potential for a substantial and significant dig, and to work with local residents and the schools, demonstrating archaeological tools and techniques and providing opportunities to use them.
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