Why I made a life sized Sutton Hoo medieval helmet out of LEGO and how you can have it.

Vote for it soon on LEGO Ideas...

It started with a single brick. A round 1x1 transparent red tile, which I thought looked like the jewels in eyes of the snakes on the Sutton Hoo helmet. That was over six months ago, and since then – despite the occasional set back – I’ve been slowly building a life-size, wearable replica of the 1500-year-old Sutton Hoo helmet.

This site details how (and why) I did it, and how I hope to submit it to LEGO Ideas where – with some luck and enough votes – The LEGO Group will consider making it into an official LEGO set (here’s how LEGO Ideas works).

But before all that, could I ask you to subscribe using the button below, that way when it’s finished (it nearly is!) I can let you know when it’s uploaded to LEGO Ideas. Promise no spam or waffle, just quality LEGO related content from me.

Why the Sutton Hoo helmet?

The Sutton Hoo helmet has an amazing story - both its ancient and recent history. In fact it’s so good, Netflix have just made it into a film – The Dig (more on that in a minute).

Unearthed by local archaeologist, Basil Brown, on the land owned by widow Edith Petty, it is one of England’s most important and culturally significant objects.

The original and reconstructed replica are housed in the British Museum.and there’s another replica at Sutton Hoo visitors centre, managed by the National Trust.

Meet Nigel Williams

Seeing the original and the replica now it’s easy to think that helmet just popped out of the ground in one piece. That’s not the case, it was smashed into hundreds of tiny pieces, and was initially overlooked.

A reconstruction was attempted in the 1950s but wasn’t satisfactory, and so in the late 1960s Nigel Williams attempted a second reconstruction.

Williams, a keen jigsaw fan, described the Sutton Hoo helmet as a puzzle of pieces that he slowly had to put together - sound familiar? Here’s what confronted Williams…

To me, especially now having nearly finished my build, sitting with all those pieces and having no idea how they fit together must have been like a real-life medieval LEGO set, only with no instructions and where you can’t order replacement pieces on Brickowl. Jigsaws are two dimensional – LEGO is not.

It took Williams over a YEAR to rebuild the helmet.

So why make it out of LEGO?

I often thought about Williams as I worked on trying to get specific pieces to connect or work. Helmets are generally round, LEGO is generally not. Therein lies the challenge for me. As a LEGO fan and AFOL, I was looking around for a big project to try, something outlandish that presented a real puzzle. Getting flat plates and tiles to form a dome is where the fun – and sometimes frustration – is. I’ll be detailing more on the construction of the helmet in another post really soon, so hit subscribe and you’ll get an email when that’s ready (it’s pretty detailed LEGO fans!).

The Dig

The finding of the Sutton Hoo helmet on the eve of war in the late 1939, and the characters involved is a fascinating story. Tonight (29th Jan 2021) sees the premiere on Netflix of The Dig, staring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. You can read a blog post about how the Museum helped with the show by Dr Sue Brunning.

So, much more to come on the LEGO Sutton Hoo helmet, but for now, one final reminded to hit that subscribe button so I can let you know when it’s ready.