In theory a horse regiment consisted of 600 men. Soldiers usually had to pay for their equipment, though sometimes the regiment supplied armour. The armour would have cost about 20s in the 1640s - the cost of two horses, or a servant girl's wage for a year. The cheek pieces are missing, and so is the original padded hessian and leather lining. This was a cheap version its neckguard is a single piece made to look like the lames found on better-quality helmets.
The helmet is known as a 'three-barred pott'. One of the problems soldiers had in the 1640s was telling friend from foe. Though it seems to be genuine (the Royal Armouries curator has inspected it) we don't know who it belonged to, or even which side - Royalist or Parliamentarian - he was on. He would also have worn a leather jacket and thick leather riding boots. This is typical of the armour worn by a harquebusier (horse soldier) in the English Civil Wars: helmet, breastplate and backplate.
