The Staffordshire Hoard - is there a Stone connection?

I spent a fascinating hour last Thursday looking at over forty items from The Staffordshire Hoard on display in the Shire Hall at Stafford - part of the 'Staffordshire Hoard on Tour' exhibition. What a revelation! For my history O level, we 'did' Elizabeth the first and the Civil War. I have to admit that I knew absolutely zilch about what happened after the Romans went home in about 400 AD and the arrival of the Normans in 1066. I suppose I assumed the natives went back into the woods and became 'hunter gatherers' all over again! Well, clearly not so!

The Hoard is spectacular. Consisting almost entirely a battle booty, it contains the most exquisite pieces of sword and shield decorations imaginable. Gold and silver work so fine it's difficult to imagine craftsmanship of that quality even today. And precious stones and inlays that are truly beautiful. But no jewellery, no costume pieces, no broaches or anything relating to women -  just military decorations. And all ripped off and scrunched up. So, sword bosses but no swords. Shield and helmet decorations but no shields or helmets. The hoard is very obviously the spoils of war - just the bits of value removed purely for their value.But no-one knows where they came from, why they were collected or why they were buried in a field near to Tamworth. The Hoard raises questions which will keep the historians busy for years!

And the Hoard was buried at the time of battles in what was then called Mercia. And of course, it was at this very time that Stone became established! King Penda of Mercia is mentioned several times in the Hoard literature and it was his offspring who ended up living at Bury Bank and who eventually started killing each other. Hence a pile of stones piled over the body of Wulfere and - as they say - the rest is history! Stone was established as a result including the building of a Christian Priory
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Now I noticed that next year, the partner councils promoting the Hoard are establishing a Mercian Trail across the county linking the museums in Hanley and Birmingham and joining up with Lichfield and Tamworth which both have strong Mercian histories. Surely Stone has a strong enough Mercian connection to be included in the Trail?

 Perhaps the Tourism committee of the new Town Council could take up the cudgels to get us on the Mercian Trail map?