Benty Grange helmet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Benty Grange helmet |
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The Benty Grange helmet, on a modern transparent support
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| Material | Iron, horn |
| Weight | 1.441 kg (3.18 lb) (replica) |
| Discovered | 1848 Benty Grange farm, Monyash, Derbyshire, England 53°10′29.6″N 01°46′58.7″W / 53.174889°N 1.782972°W |
| Discovered by | Thomas Bateman |
| Present location | Weston Park Museum, Sheffield |
| Registration | J93.1189 |
The Benty Grange helmet is a special helmet from the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 600s AD. It's famous for having a wild boar on top. An archaeologist named Thomas Bateman found it in 1848. He dug it up from an old burial mound, called a tumulus, at Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire, England.
Even though the grave might have been robbed before Bateman found it, there were still other fancy items inside. This suggests it was the burial place of an important person. Today, you can see the helmet at Sheffield's Weston Park Museum. The museum bought it in 1893.
This helmet was built with an iron frame covered in horn plates on the outside. The inside was probably lined with cloth or leather, but these materials have since rotted away. The helmet would have offered some protection in a fight. But it was also very decorated, so it might have been used for special ceremonies too. It was the first Anglo-Saxon helmet ever found. Since then, five more have been discovered, including the famous Sutton Hoo helmet. The Benty Grange helmet is unique, but some of its features are similar to other helmets from that time. It belongs to a group called "crested helmets," which were used in Northern Europe from the 500s to the 1000s AD.
The most striking part of the helmet is the boar on its top. This boar was a symbol from pagan beliefs. It faces a Christian cross on the helmet's nose guard (called a nasal). This mix of symbols shows what England was like in the 600s. Christian missionaries were slowly converting Anglo-Saxons away from their old pagan religions. The helmet seems to lean more towards paganism, with a large boar and a small cross. The cross might have been added for good luck in battle, hoping any god would help. The boar on the helmet's top was also linked to protection. This suggests that boar-crested helmets might have been common back then. The old epic poem Beowulf even mentions such helmets several times.
Contents
What Does the Benty Grange Helmet Look Like?
The Benty Grange helmet was made by covering an iron frame with horn. It probably weighed about 1.4 kg (3.1 lb), which is similar to the replica made in 1986. The original iron frame is now in sixteen rusty pieces. It used to have seven iron strips, each about 1 to 2 millimeters thick.
A band went around the wearer's forehead, about 65 cm (26 in) long and 2.5 cm (1.0 in) wide. Two more strips ran from the front to the back, and from side to side. The strip over the nose and back of the neck was 40 cm (16 in) long. It extended 4.75 cm (1.87 in) over the nose and curved inwards at the back to fit the neck. Another band went from ear to ear. It probably extended further down to protect the cheeks or ears. The helmet's inside was likely lined with leather or cloth, which has now disappeared.
Eight plates of horn, probably from cattle, were shaped to fit the eight spaces in the iron frame. No horn remains today, but tiny traces on the iron show its pattern. The horn plates covered the iron frame, hiding it. The edges of the horn plates met in the middle of each iron strip. These joins were covered by more horn pieces.
Three layers—iron at the bottom, then two layers of horn—were held together by rivets. Iron rivets were placed from the inside. Silver rivets, with decorative double-axe shaped heads, were placed from the outside, about 4 cm (1.6 in) apart. Traces of horn on the back of the helmet suggest it also had a neck guard made of horn.
Decorations on the Helmet
Besides its basic structure, the helmet has two main decorations: a cross on the nose guard and a boar on the top. The silver cross is 3.9 cm (1.5 in) long and 2 cm (0.8 in) wide. It was originally an equal-armed cross, but a silver strip was added underneath to make it longer. It was attached to the helmet with two rivets. Around the cross, there were twenty-nine silver studs in a zigzag pattern. There were probably forty originally. These studs were likely pushed into small holes in the horn.
The most unique part of the Benty Grange helmet is its boar, placed at the very top. The boar's body was made from two hollow bronze tubes. The space between them was filled with something, probably horn or metal, which is now gone. This filling might have formed the boar's mane or spine. On each side of the bronze core, an iron plate was attached, forming the outside of the boar.
Four pear-shaped plates of gilded (gold-covered) silver were used as hips. These plates were cut from older Roman silver. Two silver rivets passed through these plates, holding the five layers of the boar together. Small holes in the boar's body held circular silver studs, about 1.5 mm (0.06 in) wide. These studs were gilded and might have looked like golden bristles. The boar's eyes were made of 5 mm (0.20 in) long oval garnet stones set in gold. Small pieces of gilded bronze likely formed the boar's tail, tusks, snout, jaw, and ears, but not much of these remain.
Two sets of iron legs attached the boar's body to an oval bronze plate. Both sets of legs look like front legs, bent forward. The oval plate is 9 cm (3.5 in) long and 1.9 cm (0.75 in) wide. It matches the curve of the helmet. This plate was probably attached directly to the helmet's frame.
Why Was This Helmet Used?
The Benty Grange helmet would have offered some protection in battle. It also showed how important the wearer was. The replica at Weston Park Museum shows that it would have looked very impressive. It might have been used for special ceremonies rather than just everyday fighting. Tests with a copy of the helmet showed it could resist axe blows, damaging the horn but not breaking it completely. Arrows and spears could pierce the horn, but they also pierced modern helmets.
Helmets were rare in Anglo-Saxon England. So, the Benty Grange helmet, being so rich and uncommon, showed that its owner was very high-status. Such protection was likely only for wealthy people. In the epic poem Beowulf, which is about kings and nobles, helmets are common. But even though thousands of Anglo-Saxon graves have been dug up, helmets are still very rare. This means they were not buried in large numbers.
How Was the Helmet Found?
Where Was It Found?
The helmet was found in a burial mound, also called a barrow, on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire. This area is now part of the Peak District National Park. Thomas Bateman, an archaeologist who led the dig, described the location as "a high and bleak situation." The barrow, which is still there, is placed near a major Roman road (now the A515). This might have been to show off the burial to travelers passing by. It might also have been placed to be seen with two other nearby monuments: Arbor Low stone circle and Gib Hill barrow.
In the 600s, the Peak District was a small area between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. It was home to the Anglo-Saxon group called the Pecsæte. This area became part of the Mercian kingdom around the 700s. The Benty Grange helmet and other rich burials suggest the Pecsæte might have had their own rulers before then, but there are no written records to confirm this.
The Dig
Bateman dug up the barrow on May 3, 1848. He didn't mention it, but he was probably not the first person to dig there. The objects were found in two groups, about 6 ft (1.8 m) apart. Also, other items usually found with a helmet, like a sword and shield, were missing. This suggests the grave had been robbed earlier. It's also possible that the large barrow held two burials, and Bateman only found one.
The barrow is a circular mound, about 15 m (50 ft) across and 0.6 m (2 ft) high. It has a ditch (called a fosse) around it, about 1 m (3.3 ft) wide and 0.3 m (1 ft) deep. Outside the ditch are more earthworks, about 3 m (10 ft) wide and 0.2 m (0.66 ft) high. The whole structure is about 23 by 22 m (75 by 72 ft). Bateman thought a body once lay in the center. He described finding strands of hair, but these are now thought to be from a fur cloak.
The objects found were in two groups. One group was where the "hair" was found. Bateman described "a curious assemblage of ornaments" that were hard to remove from the hard earth. This included a cup, probably made of wood, with a silver rim and decorated with silver wheels and crosses. Also found were parts of three hanging bowls and some fine wire.
About 6 ft (1.8 m) to the west of these objects, a jumbled mass of ironwork was found. This included chains, a six-pronged iron tool like a hayfork, and the helmet. Bateman described the helmet:
The helmet was made of iron ribs spreading from the top of the head. It was covered with narrow horn plates, running diagonally to form a herring-bone pattern. The ends were held by horn strips, also spreading out like the iron ribs. These were riveted about every inch and a half. All the rivets had decorated silver heads on the outside, and on the front rib was a small silver cross. On top of the helmet was an oval brass plate, with an iron animal figure on it. It's very rusty now, but it looks like a pig. It has bronze eyes. There are also many smaller decorations with rivets that belonged to the helmet, but it's impossible to know where they go. The same is true for some small iron buckles.
Bateman noted that the soil in Derbyshire often caused things to rust badly. He thought this was because the soil was mixed with a "corrosive liquid." Bateman's friend Llewellynn Jewitt, an artist, painted four watercolours of the finds. These paintings were very important, showing how special the Benty Grange barrow was to them.
The helmet became part of Bateman's large collection. In 1848, he shared his discoveries, including the helmet, with the British Archaeological Association. After Bateman died in 1861, his son loaned the objects to Sheffield. They were shown at the Weston Park Museum until 1893, when the museum bought them. The helmet is still at the museum today. It was even displayed at the British Museum in London in 1991–1992.
The Benty Grange barrow was made a special protected site (a scheduled monument) in 1970. This means it's important for history and should not be disturbed.
Taking Care of the Helmet
In 1948, the helmet was taken to the British Museum for cleaning and study. Rupert Bruce-Mitford, a museum expert, had examined the helmet in Sheffield the year before. He was studying the Sutton Hoo helmet and wanted to compare it with the Benty Grange helmet, which was the only other Anglo-Saxon helmet known at the time.
Work at the British Museum was led by Harold Plenderleith. The helmet had rusted a lot in the hundred years since it was found. Some parts were hard to see. The boar was almost unrecognizable, and the silver rivets and cross were hidden. A strong needle was used to carefully remove the rust. During this process, the boar, which was thought to be solid, broke in two. Bruce-Mitford called this "fortunate" because it showed the boar's inner structure. Experts also studied the horn remains and experimented with shaping modern horn.
What Kind of Helmet Is It?
The Benty Grange helmet is thought to be from the first half of the 600s AD. This is based on how it was built and its decorations. It is one of only six Anglo-Saxon helmets ever found. The others are from Sutton Hoo, York, Wollaston, Shorwell, and Staffordshire. All of these, except the Shorwell helmet, are examples of "crested helmets" used in Northern Europe from the 500s to the 1000s AD. These helmets have noticeable crests and rounded tops, just like the Benty Grange helmet.
The Benty Grange helmet's overall design is unique among Anglo-Saxon helmets. However, some of its features are shared with others. For example, Swedish helmets from Vendel and Valsgärde also used thin iron frameworks. The complex way the Benty Grange boar was made, using garnet, filigree (tiny wires), gold, silver, iron, and bronze, is special. But the general idea of a boar-crest is also seen on the Wollaston and Guilden Morden boars. Another helmet, found in Cologne, also used horn, but it was a different type of helmet for a child.
What Do the Symbols Mean?
The helmet was made when Christianity was just starting to spread in Anglo-Saxon England. It shows both Christian and pagan symbols. The boar represents pagan traditions, and the cross represents Christian beliefs.
Christianity had been official in Roman Britain since the 300s. But after the pagan Anglo-Saxons conquered southern Britain in the 400s and 500s, Christianity almost disappeared there. In 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent missionaries to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons. Christianity spread quickly, but sometimes people went back to their old beliefs. It's not known if the Pecsæte people, who lived where the helmet was found, were converted by Roman or Irish Christian missionaries.
The Benty Grange helmet was made during this time of change. Its mix of symbols, called syncretism, shows this. It highlights the pagan side, with a large boar being more dominant than the small cross. The cross might not have meant strong Christian belief. It might have been chosen for its amuletic effect, meaning it was thought to bring good luck or protection. In battle, people would welcome help from any god.
Images for kids
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Watercolour by Llewellynn Jewitt depicting the Benty Grange helmet and associated finds
