2,000 Year Old Leicestershire Treasure Comes Home

A magnificent Roman helmet which lay buried in a Leicestershire field for 2000 years then underwent nine years of restoration at the British Museum, is finally coming home for permanent display.

The Hallaton Helmet will be publicly displayed for the first time on Saturday 28 January at Harborough Museum, Market Harborough. It will be reunited with other finds from the Hallaton Treasure which were found alongside it when a native British Iron Age shrine was excavated by the Hallaton Fieldwork Group and University of Leicester Archaeological Services between 2001 and 2004.

The event will be attended by the Leader of Leicestershire County Council, David Parsons, and Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, David Sprason. The new displays will be unveiled at 10.30am by Mrs Jackie Dickinson, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council. Roman soldiers from the Ermine Street Guard, including cavalrymen on horses, will be in Church Square between 11am and 3pm to help celebrate in true Roman style.

The helmet made international news on 10 January when it was unveiled to the media at the British Museum in London. An incredible conservation and restoration programme was undertaken by their conservators Marilyn Hockey, Fleur Shearman and Duygu Çamurcuoglu following Leicestershire County Council’s successful bid for Heritage Lottery Funding to undertake this mammoth task. The project was likened to a 3D jigsaw puzzle made complex by deterioration of the helmet during 2000 years in the soil.

The silver-gilt covered Hallaton Helmet is one of the most splendid Roman helmets ever found anywhere but it isn’t just this magnificence which has caught people’s attention. The mystery of how such a helmet ended up in the possession of the local native British population in the years surrounding the Roman conquest of Britain which began in AD 43 has intrigued experts. The new displays at Harborough Museum will explore theories such as if it was a diplomatic gift to a local tribe by invading Romans or perhaps a spoil of war.

In addition to the permanent helmet displays, a temporary exhibition entitled, Revealing the Hallaton Helmet, will be launched on the same day and run until 7 July. This has been written by the people involved in the helmet’s story since its discovery in 2001. It delves deeper into the British Museum’s conservation work and includes an impressive hands-on display of seven replica Roman helmets for visitors to try on.

David Sprason, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, said: "I urge everyone to go and see this wonderful piece of Leicestershire’s past. It really is a fantastic object which has changed how we view the Roman conquest of Britain. To have an artefact of international importance on our doorstep, displayed in a free, community museum is something of which we can be really proud."

For further information about the event, please contact Harborough Museum on 01858 821085.

Photographers and journalists are invited to the official unveiling at 10am on Saturday, January 28th at Harborough museum, Adam and Eve Street, Market Harborough.

For further details about the Treasure Project and Harborough Museum, see the following background details.

Harborough Museum is operated in partnership by Leicestershire County Council, Harborough District Council and the Market Harborough Historical Society.

The Southeast Leicestershire Treasure is the archive of material produced by several stages of archaeological work undertaken by local community archaeologists and University of Leicester Archaeological Services. The site proved to be an internationally important ritual site dating mostly to the generations before and after the Roman Conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD.

The purpose of the project is purchase, conserve, interpret and promote the Southeast Leicestershire Treasure. The cost of the project is £933,872 which includes purchasing the finds, conserving the finds, displays at Harborough Museum and at Hallaton Museum, two touring exhibitions, web based resources, workshops for schools and community groups, and events for the public.

The project is supported by grants from The Heritage Lottery Fund of £650,600, £100,000 from The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity, £35,000 from the Museums and Art Galleries Improvements Fund, £35,000 from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Headley Trust, Renaissance East Midlands (http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/renaissance/regions/east_midlands) and local contributions from the Friends of Leicester and Leicestershire Museums, the Leicestershire Museums Archaeological Fieldwork Group and the County Council, as well as private individuals. The support of Harborough District Council is also gratefully acknowledged.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy. Since its conception, HLF has supported 26,000 projects allocating over £4 billion across the UK.

The Art Fund is the national charity for art, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million to buy art and supported a range of projects and programmes aimed at helping more people enjoy art. It is independently funded by 89,000 supporters who purchase a National Art Pass, costing from just £37.50, which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions.

Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org . Media contact 020 7225 4888, media@artfund.org