Close Helmet with oak 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 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.

It is thought the helmet may have been part of the funerary armour displayed in the church on the death of Sir George Ayliffe of Grittenham who, according to the Bishop's Transcripts, was buried at Lydiard Tregoze on 6th December 1643. Sir George had married Sir John St.John's sister Anne in c 1610. See Report 38 - The Fabric and Fittings of St. Mary's Lydiard Tregoze by Brian Carne.

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.