#RoundaboutArt

Aethelflaed continues to inspire art and creativity

A social media campaign encouraging people to #DotheAethel has gone up a level after being joined by actors from TV’s The Last Kingdom, who struck the pose in front of our Aethelflaed statue itself.
The celebrity guests posed for #DotheAethel last Tuesday during their visit to Tamworth to mark the 1100th anniversary of the death of one of the most influential people in the town’s history.

More than a year of consultations, designing, planning and back-breaking labour will come to an end this week when Tamworth’s brand new warrior queen sculpture finally returns home to be revealed to the public for the first time.
Although pictures shared throughout the design process have provided glimpses of the huge sculpture of Tamworth’s Lady of the Mercians, Aethelflaed, only a couple of people have seen the six-metre tall steel figure put together in its entirety – and the overall effect promises to be ‘surprising and unique’.

Stunning pictures reveal the moment when Tamworth’s new warrior queen sculpture was dipped into a huge bath of molten zinc, to slowly emerge shiny and victorious, ready for the final stage of the design process.

A social media campaign encouraging people to #DotheAethel is gathering pace, attracting its first celebrity, an award-winning author and reaching across the world as we prepare to welcome our brand new Aethelflaed statue home to Tamworth next week.
Celebrity TV chef Rosemary Shrager joined the fun by taking a break from a busy day at the Ely Food and Drink Festival to #DotheAethel, making her the first celebrity to get involved in the campaign to raise awareness of the Anglo-Saxon warrior queen who died in Tamworth 1,100 years ago this June.

Stunning pictures reveal the moment when Tamworth’s new warrior queen sculpture was dipped into a huge bath of molten zinc, to slowly emerge shiny and victorious, ready for the final stage of the design process.

Motorists may have witnessed an unusual sight on the roads last week as our statue of Lady of the Mercians, Aethelflaed, was loaded onto the back of a lorry to be taken for galvanizing, before she returns to her final home in the town in a few weeks.

Thousands of people joined together in Tamworth to help launch a new campaign to celebrate and raise awareness of one of the most powerful and influential women in Anglo-Saxon England.
Crowds took part in a mass ‘#DotheAethel’ in honour of Tamworth’s Lady of the Mercians and warrior queen Aethelflaed, who took her last breath in Tamworth 1,100 years ago this year.

2018 is a very special year in Tamworth as it marks 1,100 years since the death of one of the most powerful and influential women in Anglo-Saxon England.
It was on June 12, 918, that Aethelflaed ‘Lady of the Mercians’ took her last breath in Tamworth – the capital of the ancient kingdom of Mercia - before being finally laid to rest in St Oswald’s Priory in Gloucester, alongside her husband Aethelred.

The final design of Tamworth’s iconic new roundabout sculpture will be revealed to the people of Tamworth next week during a live clay modelling session by award-winning artist, Luke Perry.

Members of the public will be able to watch Luke creating a scale model of his monument design live in front of Tamworth Town Hall in Market Street on Tuesday February 21, from 10am.

As well as seeing the design come to life for the first time, adults and children will also be invited to get involved by asking questions and having a play with the clay.