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# Britain's Oldest Crown Belonged to a Druid, Not a Monarch
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/drevneishaia-korona-britanii-prinadlezhala-druidu-a-ne-monarkhu/
- Published: 2023-05-06T08:07:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:36:39.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Faith, Monarchies, Museums

The bronze crown in the collection of the British Museum dates from the second century BC. It is made of bronze and was found at Mill Hill in the county of Kent in 1988\. One of the richest Iron Age burial grounds in England dates from the 2nd to 1st centuries BC.

The crown, discovered on the head of a young man buried with a metal sword, a shield and ornaments in the style of early Celtic art, is considered the most valuable find in the area.

Whose crown was it? Scholars incline to the view that the bronze headband with a crosspiece and bronze decorations, dated to 250-150 BC, was a religious headdress worn by druids rather than a royal crown. It resembles other headdresses found at various Romano-British religious sites of the Iron Age and later periods in Norfolk, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Hockwold and elsewhere.

The high status of the man who was buried is beyond doubt, and his social standing is most probably that of the Romano-British intellectual and priestly class of the druids, which, however, did not prevent the young man from being at once a warrior-priest or a priest-ruler.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_8896@06-05-2023_11-07-52.jpg)