Close Helmet with olive tree adornment, 1575-1600

This type of helmet is known as a 'funerary helmet' honouring and marking the death of knights or members of the nobility, in this case a member of the St.John family. In the seventeenth century it was common for amour to be carried in a funeral procession to the church and the St.Johns retained an earlier practice of leaving the helmet on permanent display. This is one of three late sixteenth- / early seventeenth-century close helmets remaining at St. Mary's Lydiard Tregoze.

Funerary helmets were often brightly coloured or like this one ornamented with a floral design. This example is of excellent quality and was probably made in the Netherlands. The olive tree reflects the name 'Oliver', a Christian name regularly given to senior sons of the St. John family. The olive tree motif is found elsewhere in the church, including the seventeenth-century East Window by Abraham Van Linge.