Between 2019 and 2023 the Society has made several substantial awards from its Pagett Fund towards the excavations at Nesscliffe Camp carried out by Prof. Gary Lock and Dr. Paul Reilly, and another to Shropshire Museums Service towards the acquisition of the North Shropshire Hoards, finds of Bronze Age items which are of huge significance to the prehistory of Shropshire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMIICbgeTqE).

The Society has also made substantial awards from its Pagett and Una Rees Funds to Shropshire Museums to support the Archaeology Lab cataloguing project (https://www.shropshiremuseums.org.uk/archaeology-lab/) and from its Una Rees and Betton Funds to the Shropshire Victoria County History to work on Newport’s medieval charters (http://www.vchshropshire.org/)

Other recent awards have been made to:

Shropshire Archives to support the purchase of 2 volumes of Church Stretton local authority records, to catalogue Shropshire Marriage Registers, and to catalogue the Peele collection.

The Shropshire : Becoming Christian project led by Professor Susan Pearce

The National Trust excavations at Attingham Park

The Church Stretton Area Local History Group to support the publication of a book on Church Stretton Workhouse https://www.churchstrettonhistory.com/church-stretton-workhouse-1881

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust to support a conference in May 2024 to celebrate the life and achievements of L T C Rolt https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/learn/ltc-rolt-conference/

Some of our earlier awards were made to:

 GPR at Castle Pulverbatch: Castle Pulverbatch is recognised as one of the finest examples of a motte and bailey castle in the county. In 2017 a programme of geophysical survey and UAV survey at Castle Pulverbatch, funded by the Castle Studies Trust, took advantage of recent scrub clearance by the Friends of Castle Pulverbatch. Detailed resistivity and magnetometry survey was undertaken of all available areas in both the inner bailey on the northeast side of the motte, and the large outer bailey that lies to the northwest. This work was supplemented in 2018 by a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey supported by a grant from the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society. Analysis of the results suggest in situ building material, particularly within the inner bailey, coinciding with earthwork features seen on the drone survey. The results of this study have been published in the latest Transactions (vol. 93 for 2018, pp31-44).  Recent survey work at Caus Castle and Castle Pulverbatch

Purchase of Lacon Childe of Kinlet deeds and documents: As a result of financial support from the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society and Shropshire Family History Society, in 2016 Shropshire Archives was able to purchase an important collection of Shropshire deeds and documents relating to the Lacon Childe family of Kinlet and dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. It includes material on the parishes of Kinlet, Cleobury Mortimer and surrounding areas. The collection complements the existing holdings relating to the Lacon and Childe families held by Shropshire Archives in a number of different collections.  Lacon Childe of Kinlet documents

An Early Medieval gold ring from the South Shropshire area: In 2014 Ludlow Museum acquired with the help of the Art Fund, the friends of Ludlow Museum and the Shropshire Historical and Archaeological Society a post-Roman gold ring. The ring was discovered in 2012 by a metal detectorist in South Shropshire. The ring has no parallels in Roman period gold, and is probably Early Medieval in date (circa AD 410 – 750). The ring has undergone surface metal analysis at the British Museum which indicated an approximate gold content of 93%, a silver content of 6% and a copper content of 1%. Roger White has suggested that this is “the only prestige piece of Britonnic Dark Age metalwork to have been found in the county”. The ring is now on display at Ludlow Museum. The full Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) record can be found here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/516447