Benty Grange Helmet



The Benty Grange helmet is an archaeological artefact excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1848 from an Anglo-Saxon tumulus (or barrow) at the Benty Grange Farm in the civil parish of Monyash in the English county of Derbyshire.

The remains and a reconstruction are in Sheffield's Weston Park Museum.

This helmet is of the Spangenhelm type and like the Pioneer helmet is boar-crested. The surviving iron bands would have supported plates of horn (decayed in antiquity) held in place with small silver rivets and the nasal of the helmet is decorated with a silver cross.

Boar Crest


This helm is crested with an iron boar with bronze eyes inset with garnet, this sits upon an elliptical copper-alloy plate. The hips of the boar are made with pear shaped plates of gilded silver. The 1986 reconstruction, based on conservation work carried out at the British Museum has boar bristles running along the back.

In Norse mythology, the boar talisman was associated with Freyja's role as battle goddess, helmets with boar-crests are described in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.