STOURBRIDGE heritage campaigners are calling for the return of an historic dolls house which was displayed in the town for many years.

The Victorian toy was housed in the foyer of Stourbridge Library and Town Hall before it was moved to Dudley Museum and Art Gallery in May as work to redevelop the Crown Centre got underway.

Before that it was displayed for many years in the council house at Mary Stevens Park, Stourbridge.

Among those anxious to see it returned to the town is Stourbridge salsa gran Paddy Jones who recalls being taken to see the artefact as a child.

The 78-year-old former town trader, who shot to fame after winning Spain’s version of Britain’s Got Talent, said: “My grandfather used to take me to see it in Mary Stevens Park and I used to take my daughter and the boys to see it. It was lovely.

“I’d like to see it back in Stourbridge, and dozens of people have said it should be brought back - either into the library foyer when the Crown Centre redevelopment is complete or back into the council office in Mary Stevens Park.

“What’s Stourbridge got left? Everything is going.”

Margaret Scott, chairman of Stourbridge Township Council, has also voiced concerns.

She said: “It’s something we’ll have to keep our eye on. We don’t want to lose anything else out of Stourbridge.”

The dolls house, a scaled down version of a grand Victorian house, has been incorporated into the Dudley museum’s Brooke Robinson Collection, which contains personal items, furniture and pictures of Brooke Robinson – a former MP for Dudley in the late Victorian era.

Little is known about it apart from that it was discovered in a bedroom at Wollescote Hall.

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, Dudley’s cabinet member for housing, libraries and adult learning, said: "Due to the nature of the development, no decision has been taken at this stage on where the dolls house will be permanently located, this will be determined towards the end of the development."