Unique Roman helmet found in Leicestershire field on display again

A unique Roman cavalry helmet discovered by amateur archaeologists searching a field more than 20 years ago is being displayed in a museum.

Fragments of the iron helmet were found at an Iron Age site at Hallaton, near Market Harborough in Leicestershire, in 2001.

The rebuilt helmet has now gone on show to the public for the first time since the completion of work in 2020 to reconstruct the find.

It can be seen at Harborough Museum.

Staff and volunteers at the museum have also been involved in work to create two replicas of the helmet, to show how it might have looked at the time of the Roman occupation of Britain after 43AD.

Rajesh Gogna, a Leicestershire-based silversmith senior lecturer and practice-based researcher at De Montfort University, created a replica helmet by creating a model, which was 3D printed in plastic then silver-plated and gilded.

Another helmet was handcrafted by archaeologist and replica maker Francesco Galluccio, who used traditional methods that would have been familiar to the original Roman armourer.

A large quantity of pig bones were also discovered along with the helmet in 2001 by the Hallaton Fieldwork Group and University of Leicester Archaeological Services.

Wider excavations of the site also uncovered more than 5,000 coins and silver ingots.

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