Material Iron | Created 7th century | |
Discovered 1997 Wollaston, Northamptonshire Present location British Museum (formerly Royal Armouries Museum) | ||
The Pioneer Helmet (also known as Wollaston Helmet or Northamptonshire Helmet) is a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon boar-crested helm found by archaeologists from Northamptonshire Archaeology at a quarry site operated by Pioneer Aggregates. This helmet is very similar in its basic design to the Coppergate Helmet, although it is much larger, and was likely to have had two cheek plates (of which only one remained) and a nasal (which was bent inwards at the time of deposition to render the piece unwearable). A simple iron boar crest adorns the top of this helmet associating it with the Benty Grange helmet from the same period, and descriptions in the poem Beowulf. The helmet accompanied the burial of a young male, possibly laid on a bed with a pattern welded sword, small knife, hanging bowl, three iron buckles and a copper alloy clothes hook.
The fragments of this helmet were found during excavations at Wollaston, Northamptonshire on a site operated by Pioneer Aggregates. The helm bears that company's name in recognition of its financial support towards restoration and conservation work.
After restoration this helmet was originally on display at the Royal Armouries (Leeds) alongside a replica, and the British Museum; it is currently (2010) back at the Royal Armouries.