Romano-British helmet
- Gallery: Room 49
- Culture: Romano-British
- Date: 1stC
- Object type: helmet
- Materials: copper alloy; tin
- Museum number: 1891,1117.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
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About this object
This is a Romano-British helmet, dating to the 1st century AD. It was discovered at Witcham Gravel in Ely, Cambridgeshire. The helmet was designed for cavalry combat but is now largely incomplete. Much of the inner iron headpiece and neck guard are missing.
What you see before you is a bronze outer casing, decorated with small bosses—rounded projections thought to add visual interest, though they provided little protection. A silvery tin coating contrasts with the warm gold color of the bronze, applied to parts like the dome, cheek-pieces, and neck guard.
This helmet includes tinning—a decorative technique that would have made the piece visually striking. Some elements, like the crest box and cheek-pieces, are now lost. This example offers a window into the craftsmanship and military culture of Roman Britain.
See it in person
Romano-British helmet is on display in Room 49 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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