Northern Ireland Riot Helmet

[Redstalker]

Finally got my hands on one of these Northern Ireland riot helmets. Now I was under the impression that these were called Cromwell riot helmets but after doing a little digging round I’ve seen a couple of makers of these. Does anyone have a list of known makers of this helmet?
This particular one has been produced by Helmets Ltd and is dated 1984. I got the old screw driver out and found behind the cork cushioned neck piece a label and marker written letters and numbers. The visor is dated 1985 and has the British army arrow stamp. The liner in this helmet is made of polystyrene, like the para helmets of this era. No ballistic protection at all with this one and solely for crowd control only. Threw in a couple of period pics of them in use, thanks for looking guys 👍🏻

[BlackCat1982]

Nice lid and a crafty use of your lid library to display it!

[Redstalker]

Nice lid and a crafty use of your lid library to display it!

My usual spot for taking pics has been occupied by the Christmas tree. So next best place for natural light is by the side of my chair next to my stack of reference books

[James C]

Great example Ian with moderate wear and tear ,Daft question but is that a goggle retaining strap on the lower rear of the shell ?

[Gunny Hartmann]

Great example Ian with moderate wear and tear ,Daft question but is that a goggle retaining strap on the lower rear of the shell ?

If you google BS1869 you'll find it's an outdated British standards number for motorcycle crash helmets, so i reckon that sure is a goggle retaining strap. The helmet is a modified bike lid by the look of it.

[Redstalker]

Great example Ian with moderate wear and tear ,Daft question but is that a goggle retaining strap on the lower rear of the shell ?

Hi James yes it looks like a goggle retaining strap. Thanks Gunny for the info on the helmet. I’ve took some closer pics of the strap and I forgot to add a picture of the visor down.

[Watchdog]

It always amazes me (although I should know better!) how things that once you couldn't give away eventually become collectable. Not too long ago I threw one of these away having had it gathering dust for years

Colloquially known as a "Bone dome" these were in fact purely hard hats and as you say offered no ballistic defence, that was not their purpose.

They were generically known in semi-official parlance as "Cromwell" helmets after the bike helmet maker who produced some of them. They were as Gunny suggests basically a modified motorcycle helmet but I would say that "derivative" is probably a better description as they were manufactured as riot helmets rather than being converted from motorcyle helmets.
They were very welcome in the winter when standing as top cover in a moving vehicle but hideously hot in the summer especially when running about!

The funny thing about this kit is that the helmet and visor were routinely accounted for but the green denim visor cover was known as a "starred item". This generally means that it is considered an "attractive item" because the average Tommy being a bit of a magpie will scarfe it away to use for any number of other purposes (usually to hold things like boot cleaning kit etc). The expression starred item means that in accounting documentation, stores catalogues etc the NSN is prefixed with an * meaning that extra more robust accounting procedures are in place in the event of loss / defficiency.

Thanks for the memories

Mark
PS The chap in the first pic is I believe, a former colleague of mine (same brick ie half section or four man patrol) I won't name him for reasons of persec. The boots DMS, puttees and flak jacket kind of date the pictures too!
PPS Note that his rifle sling is attached to the rifle only at the rear swivel with the other end attached to his wrist. This was done to prevent your own rifle being turned against you if it were snatched in a crowd situation.

[Composite]

Another 2019 W&P Show pick-up....so cheap it couldn't be left. More labels than you can shake a stick at....but why "Topper"??

...I'm now wondering if this is Watchdog's cast-off! :-)





....a modern day Zuck.....try finding a shelf for it!!!!!

[Watchdog]

Another 2019 W&P Show pick-up....so cheap it couldn't be left. More labels than you can shake a stick at....but why "Topper"??

...I'm now wondering if this is Watchdog's cast-off! :-)

Hahaha! Could be mate except my helmet / hat size is "FM" (on account of the quantity of grey matter you understand )

Unqualified old mans history;

As for the name "Anti Riot Topper" this is a proprietry name and all I can add is that there was a reinforced version of the police helmet or "Topper" as it has been called in some forces (ie Top Hat) that was equipped with a crude visor that attached to the peak and it went by the same name. It was short lived being fairly useless (so much so I can't find a pic).

Contrary to common belief that the Army used a green version of the police blue Cromwell "crash hat" it was actually the other way around. The green version was first used by the Army in the late '70s and subsequently supplied to the Police (I think the first ones were still green) around the time of Broadwater Farm etc.

I hope this helps and I will continue to try and find a pic of the original item.

Regards

Mark

[James C]

My Example to add to the thread for comparison and Ade your right ,finding shelf space for this particular model is troublesome