Tuesday 4 June 2024

LAHS Research Grant Funding: Iconography of the Hallaton Helmet

This small grant covers train ticket costs to collate relevant bibliographic references on Roman iconography and cavalry helmets.

The Hallaton Helmet alongside the new replica © Leicestershire County Council Museums.

This funding will cover the cost of train ticket costs for a member of the wider ‘Hallaton helmet project team’ Teresa Porciani to visit various reference libraries in Cambridge and London in order to collate relevant bibliographic references on Roman iconography, cavalry helmets and military equipment, which will be used in a new article for the Transactions of the Leicestershire and Archaeological Society with publication expected at the end of 2025.

Teresa Porciani is a former Leicester University PhD student was a volunteer helping a team of curators, archaeologists and illustrators involved in the iconographic reconstruction of the Hallaton helmet (1st century AD) preserved in Harborough Museum (Leics).

What is the the Hallaton Helmet project and why is it important?

The Hallaton helmet has been recently re-displayed in Harborough Museum, in a new case that now allows seeing the object from all sides, together with cheekpieces from other helmets, and other metal objects of unclear function, that were also discovered in the same pit in Hallaton (Leicestershire). Two reconstructions of the helmet are also displayed in the Museum, showing what the helmet must have looked like. The new display and the two reconstructions now allow new appreciation the details of the helmet, and will hopefully facilitate conversations on the decoration, manufacture and use of this Roman cavalry helmet.
The conservation, reconstruction and redisplay of the helmet took more than 20 years. The publication of an article, presenting the outcomes of the most recent research, can be seen as a conclusion to this long-lasting research. It will also help identify new topics for future studies related to the making and history of the Hallaton helmet and the treasure that came with it. The function of some fragments from this treasure is still open to debate, and so is the overall meaning of the burial of these items. 

Further information on a previous LAHS Public Heritage Grant provided to assist in the resotration of the Hallaton Helmet can be found here.

If you feel your project could benefit from the LAHS Research Fund, please get in touch!