Yarm helmet

The Yarm helmet is a ca 10th-century Viking age helmet that was found in Yarm in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is the first relatively complete Anglo-Scandinavian helmet found in Britain and only the second relatively complete/intact Viking helmet discovered in north-west Europe.

Yarm helmet
MaterialIron
Discovered1950s
Yarm, near Stockton-on-Tees, England
Present locationPreston Park Museum

The helmet was discovered in the 1950s by workmen digging pipe trenches in Chapel Yard, Yarm, near the River Tees. Research led by Chris Caple of Durham University, and published in 2020, established that the helmet dates to the 10th century.[1]

It is on display at the Preston Park Museum in Stockton-on-Tees. It is on loan from Yarm Town Council.[2]

The iron helmet is made of bands and plates, riveted together, with a simple knop at the top. Below the brow band it has a "spectacle" guard around the eyes and nose forming a sort of mask, which suggests an affinity with earlier Vendel Period helmets. The lower edge of the brow band is pierced with circular holes, where a mail curtain (or aventail) may have been attached.

The only other near-complete Viking helmet is the Gjermundbu helmet in Norway. Other helmet remains are the Tjele helmet fragment, two fragments from Gotland, and one fragment from Kiev.[3]

References
  1. "Britain's first ever Viking helmet discovered". BBC News. 9 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  2. "Britain's first ever Viking helmet discovered". Preston Park Museum. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  3. Ian Harvey (December 22, 2016). "The only surviving example of a complete Viking helmet in existence". thevintagenews.com. Retrieved October 1, 2017.

Bibliography


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