Britain's Secret Treasures
Page 18
Celts
Iron Age peoples from across Britain, Ireland, France and Spain are sometimes known as Celts, but we should be careful using this term. Ancient Roman and Greek writers never referred to natives of Britain and Ireland as Celts (Keltoi in Greek, Celtae in Latin), they only used the term for the people in continental Europe.
The first use of the term ‘Celt’ for British and Irish societies was among scholars of linguistics in the 1600s, who linked early Gaulish languages with Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish and Breton and called them all ‘Celtic’. There wasn’t a shared culture over these lands, though – in the same way that Argentineans, Romanians and Italians all speak Romance languages, but have different cultures.
The population of Britain at this time was around 2–3 million. We don’t know what the natives of Britain referred to themselves as – different tribes had different names, and it’s likely that they didn’t use a national name at all.
A day in the life of the Dobunni
The people living in the central Midlands area around Tanworth in Arden were members of the Dobunni and Cornovii tribes. It was a rich agricultural area and everyday life was relatively unchanged since 2000BC, with small extended family groups farming the land and living in thatched roundhouses surrounded by their crops and animals. The British countryside looked quite a lot like it does now – small areas of woodland, ploughed fields and pasture land, with hedges, fences and walls to mark out different fields.
The climate was roughly similar to today’s, and the Ancient Greek geographer Strabo (64BC–21AD) wrote what might feel like a familiar description:
‘Their weather is more rainy than snowy; and on the days of clear sky, fog prevails so long a time that throughout a whole day the sun is to be seen for only about three or four hours’.
There were extensive trade networks across the country and to the continent, and people from distant lands sometimes travelled to and settled in the area, possibly also in marriage exchanges. Over the centuries following the Roman invasion, these native Britons took up many elements of Roman culture.
Hairdressing and horses
From unusually preserved bodies that have been found in peat bogs, we know that some Iron Age men and women wore their hair long and women especially dressed it up in plaits and twists. Some men used lime rubbed into their hair like a form of hair gel, and they might also have used clarified animal or vegetable fat as conditioners.
“Horses would have been status symbols and, just like today, sources of pride and pleasure. Some warriors even had horses buried in their graves with them”
Iron Age people in Britain enjoyed dressing up and looking good – the evidence includes preserved textiles, Roman written sources and numerous exquisite pieces of jewellery that have been found in Britain and abroad. The Lindow Man bog body, on display in the British Museum, had trimmed his beard with shears and had cut his fingernails. Unfortunately, a short time later he was brutally killed and thrown in a bog in Cheshire.
The Tanworth Comb could easily have been used for brushing out tangles in long hair, or as a decorative comb once a hairstyle was complete. But experts and members of the public alike have pointed out that the Tanworth Comb also looks very similar to a modern curry comb – the tool used to brush out a horse’s mane and tail.
We know that Iron Age people loved their horses, so it’s not impossible to imagine that a horse-grooming tool would be crafted so beautifully. Although horseback riding wasn’t common, the small, sturdy native breed horses were trained to pull elaborate and richly decorated chariots as well as functional carts, in both times of peace and of battle. Horses would have been status symbols and, just like today, sources of pride and pleasure. Some warriors even had horses buried in their graves with them.
Further research, and perhaps further discoveries of artefacts, may one day reveal whether the creature having its hair brushed was human or equine. What’s certain is that even if it was used for combing a horse’s tail, it wasn’t just a functional item – this treasure is evidence of a rich and sophisticated tribe who enjoyed beautiful things.
NORTH WEST
THE NORTH WEST is a region of great contrasts and dramatic beauty – from the flat Cheshire plains to the high Cumbrian mountains, and from lakes to dales. It has the coldest average temperatures in England, at Cross Fell in the Pennine Hills, and the place with the highest average rainfall in England, Seathwaite in Cumbria. It has the largest body of water in England, Lake Windermere, and the highest English mountain, Scafell Pike.
The North West was at the centre of the Industrial Revolution – perfectly placed for raw materials (wool, water, coal) and a way to get the products and materials in and out across the British Empire through huge ports like Liverpool. In 1747, Liverpool overtook Bristol to become the biggest slave-trading port in Britain, at the heart of an aggressive colonial expansion strategy. Iron was first smelted in a furnace in Telford, cotton was imported in the millions of tons, and techniques and craftsmanship developed in the Staffordshire Potteries, most famously by Josiah Wedgwood, making British products desirable around the world.
The region was changed forever when cottage industries transformed into massive commercial enterprises. The toll on the environment and the population is still visible around us – in stone foundations in overgrown woods and pock-marked hillsides, in the enormous factories that have now been converted into penthouse apartments, as well as the terraced houses that still provide homes for working people.
The Staffordshire Hoard came out of a very ordinary field, but has enabled experts to shed more light on the so-called Dark Ages. The Crosby Garrett Helmet also captured people’s attention, but unfortunately this stunning piece of military bling is not on permanent public display. It’s now owned privately by an art collector somewhere in the country – a real secret treasure.
The Staffordshire Moorlands Ilam Pan captures another Roman soldier’s experiences at the frontier of ‘Civilisation’. It was possibly owned by a travelling soldier who came to live in the North West after long years travelling and fighting for the Empire. Ursula’s Virgin Badge probably commemorates a very different journey that someone undertook. Thirteen hundred years later, on a spiritual pilgrimage, they might have gone all the way to Cologne, Germany, to get it. It’s also possible that a significant shrine somewhere in the North West has been lost from memory and the archives, but could still be unearthed. The Chinese Coin Hoard found in the great steel and shipbuilding town of Barrow raises more questions than it can possibly ever answer.
Finds like these show us how willing people were to travel – for profit, for pleasure, for faith. They remind us that we shouldn’t underestimate our ancestors. And they reveal that underneath the modern industrial history, there are treasures throughout the North West telling far older stories.
Crosby Garrett Helmet
The £2-million Treasure controversy
Date: 75–250AD, Roman
Where, when and how found: Crosby Garrett, Cumbria; 2010; metal detecting
Finder: Anonymous
Where is it now? Acquired at auction by an anonymous private collector in 2010, its current location is within the UK but otherwise unknown. It was publicly exhibited for the first time in 2012 in the Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
Visit: Two other Roman cavalry helmets discovered in Britain can be seen in museums: The Ribchester Helmet at the British Museum, London
www.britishmuseum.org
Newstead Helmet at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
www.nms.ac.uk
The finder of this artefact wishes to remain anonymous as does the private collector who now owns it. Shrouded in mystery, the Crosby Garrett Helmet has ended up at the centre of one of the most controversial heritage battles in recent memory.
A father and son who enjoyed metal detecting in Crosby Garrett parish, Cumbria, were out in May 2010 searching across a few familiar grassy fields. They’d been
going over the area for years and had found some Roman coins, but nothing exceptional or particularly valuable.
When the son did get a signal that day, he thought the pieces of corroded metal he found in the soil were a Victorian ornament. Then he unearthed a large piece in the shape of a man’s face. The men collected up the metal fragments and took them home. It was only after they looked online and contacted the Portable Antiquities Scheme that they realised they’d found an exceptional example of a Roman Cavalry Sports helmet.
The experts who saw the helmet were astonished: other Cavalry Sports helmets had been found, but often only the face mask section had survived. The Crosby Garrett helmet was almost complete, although in more than sixty fragile, corroded fragments. This was without doubt a find of international importance.
Sadly, because this striking 2,000-year-old helmet is made from copper alloy rather than gold or silver, it isn’t legally classed as Treasure. If it were, the Crown could claim it, pay the finder and landowner a full reward and the Treasure would go to a public museum. So despite it being an artefact of extraordinary importance, the finder and the landowner were entitled to dispose of the Crosby Garrett helmet in whatever way they wanted to.
The open market
The owners instructed Christie’s auction house in London to restore the helmet and prepare it for sale on the open market – anyone could bid for it and it would go to the highest bidder. This risked the helmet going to a private collector who would not allow further archaeological research or conservation, and would not allow the helmet to be displayed. It could effectively be lost all over again.
As a restorer carefully cleaned, reshaped and pieced together the 68 helmet fragments, the regional museum closest to the find site, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle, launched an enormous fundraising campaign, hoping to purchase the helmet and display it publicly. They raised an astonishing £1.7 million in less than four weeks, but the finder and landowner didn’t agree to sell. The helmet would go to public auction.
On the day of the auction, six bidders pushed the price past £1 million in minutes. Tullie House Museum dropped out at £1.7 million, and the hammer finally fell at £2 million. Including the buyer’s premium and VAT, the helmet’s new owner forked out a total of £2,330,468.75 for it.
All that is known about the helmet’s new owner is that it’s a man and he’s a UK resident. He allowed the helmet to be exhibited in public for the first time in 2012 as part of an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. If he ever wanted to export it from the UK, he would have to apply for a licence.
Elite horsemen and their helmets
Dated to around 75–250AD, the Crosby Garrett helmet was owned by an elite soldier stationed on the northern frontiers of Roman Britain. Following the Roman invasion in 43AD, the Roman Army took control of Britain as far north as Hadrian’s Wall. Attempts to push further north met with repeated failure, but they did hold the northern frontier until the end of the Roman occupation, around 410AD.
Soldiers sent to the remote outposts of their Empire worked hard to maintain their Roman lifestyle and military training. Mounted regiments regularly conducted cavalry tournaments, or hippika gymnasia (‘Horse Exercises’ in Greek), practising complex equestrian and military manoeuvres in parade grounds situated outside the Roman forts.
Horses and riders would wear brightly coloured tunics and harness decorations, with special display armour. Teams would demonstrate their skills with shields and weapons, and take turns to attack and defend in stylised equestrian games. These flamboyant displays improved their riding skills, but also impressed the Roman elite, and, when necessary, intimidated the locals.
The elite riders would have worn striking, polished, full-face Cavalry Sports helmets, richly decorated and embossed, with shining face mask visors with only small slits for the eyes. Coloured ribbons might have been attached to the tops of the helmets, to emphasise the speed of the riders galloping around.
Not intended for real battle, these helmets were designed to catch and hold the attention of spectators and competitors alike. They made the riders look like classical heroes or divine beings, celebrated Greek or Amazon warriors, both men and women, rather than just soldiers on horses.
A number of Cavalry Sports helmets have been recorded across countries that were part of the Roman Empire – from Algeria to Romania, Syria to Germany and Britain, but the Crosby Garrett helmet is one of the finest examples ever discovered, because of both the workmanship and its completeness. After almost 2,000 years in the ground, just two small sections of the helmet are missing – one piece of the chin, and some curls of hair from the back of the helmet.
The face mask is in the idealised ‘Greek’ style of a young man – clean-shaven, with luxurious, curly hair. Like other helmets of this type, the face mask hinges upwards so the helmet can be put on. A leather strap would have fastened around the rider’s neck and then be secured on iron studs behind the mask’s ears. The face mask is copper alloy coated with a layer of tin so when it was new it would have shone a brilliant white-silver colour.
The shape of the hat section, known as a ‘Phrygian cap’, is unusual, and the winged griffin crest fixed at the top is a unique survival. The hair and hat sections are a slightly different copper-based alloy, made by a skilled metallurgist to be a rich golden colour.
The griffin crest is made with 10% lead mixed into the metal, so would have stood out from the rest of the helmet. The griffin, a legendary creature with the back and legs of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle, was linked to Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance and Fate. It’s an intimidating icon perfect for an elite cavalryman training and fighting at the edge of his empire.
Construction of Hadrian’s Wall began in 122AD, and Crosby Garrett was en route to the frontier. Although the whole region would have had a significant military presence, no Roman garrisons are documented at Crosby Garrett. The burning question has yet to be answered: why did a helmet that was only ever used in equestrian parade grounds end up buried in Crosby Garrett?
Cavalry Sports helmets were part of a soldier’s personal possessions, rather than issued by centralised military uniform supplies, and individual men would have bought their own helmets, or even commissioned them to their own specifications. Some sports helmets have been discovered in Roman graves, buried with their likely owners, and others seem to have been ritually buried on their own, perhaps as a particularly valuable and personal offering to the gods.
The Crosby Garrett helmet doesn’t seem to have been associated with a burial, so archaeologists think it’s most likely to have been buried as an offering, known as ‘votive deposition’, or perhaps stolen and hidden as loot which was never retrieved. Only archaeological excavation of the findspot might reveal more.
We can only speculate on what became of the owner of the Crosby Garrett helmet, fighting and performing equestrian feats at this far edge of the Roman Empire. The helmet’s current resting place is also a topic for speculation, and has certainly fired up public debate on how best to protect our portable heritage, and whether the rules of the Treasure Act should be revised.
For further details of the Treasure Act, see here.
See also:
Hadrian’s Wall Coins
Cautopates Roman Figurine
Ursula’s Virgin Badge
A medieval badge from the cult of 11,000 virgins
Date: 1500–1530, Medieval
Where, when and how found: Preston, Lancashire; 2011; metal detecting
Finder: Paul King
Official valuation: £500
Where is it now? Museum of Lancashire, Preston
www.lancashire.gov.uk/museumoflancash
In April 2011, Paul King, a member of the South Ribble metal detecting club, was searching land he’d already gone over before. This time he was trying out a new machine, hit a very good signal, dug down and immediately knew he’d found something exciting. It was a small, thick metal badge of a young wo
man – 3cm across, folded in two, but otherwise in amazing condition.
The badge is made from silver, and dates to the early-16th century, so is officially Treasure. It is thought to represent one of the companions of Ursula, a legendary saint linked to an impressively strange shrine in Cologne, Germany.
St Ursula
There is no reliable historical evidence for St Ursula at all, and depending on the source, she’s said to have lived some time between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD. The story goes that Ursula, a British princess, was sent to marry a pagan prince in France, but instead she diverted her journey (and escaped her marriage) to go on pilgrimage to Rome. She travelled across Europe, gathering 11,000 virgins who wanted to travel with her, but when the group arrived in Cologne, she and her companions were all murdered by pagan Hun tribesmen.
“She travelled across Europe, gathering 11,000 virgins who wanted to travel with her”
In the 11th century an ancient cemetery was discovered in Cologne, and the bones were declared to be evidence of the slaughter of Ursula’s virgins. Her cult spread rapidly across Europe, reliquaries holding bones were distributed around the Christian world, and people began to make pilgrimage to see her shrine.
The badge
In medieval times, badges were sold at all major pilgrimage sites. The fact that this badge is made of silver makes it rare, however, as most pilgrim badges were made from base metals like lead or copper alloy. No other badges of this design have ever been found. The young woman depicted, wearing a ‘kennel-shape’ headdress, loose hair and low neckline with cross pendant, dates the badge by clothing style to the early 1500s. She bears a striking resemblance to the design of a reliquary linked to St Ursula, which also probably represents one of Ursula’s virgin companions. The reliquary was made in Bruges, Belgium, and is now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA.