About
Us
‘Englyshe
Plate Armourie’ was born of a passion
for the recreation and purveyance of fine quality, authentic reproduction
medieval armour. With a background in award winning vintage vehicle
restoration and a Master’s degree in engineering the company’s
founder, William West, aims to achieve the highest standards in his
work. He believes that the only way to accomplish the required level
of authenticity and excellence is through a combination of thorough
research, experimentation and the application of armour production techniques
that are as close as possible to those originally employed by armourers
of long ago. However, this has proved – and continues to prove
– a testing aspiration since knowledge and techniques passed down
from master to apprentice have been lost. No armour manufacturing manuscript
or publication is known to have survived – if indeed one ever
existed at all; back in the days when steel plate armour for the body
was considered a vital part of one’s wardrobe these ‘techniques’
of plate shaping were a closely guarded secret. Regular museum trips
to photograph, handle and measure original specimens combined with hours
of experimentation have been rewarded by the rediscovery of some of
these techniques and can result in a truly marvelous recreation of medieval
engineering at its best.
All of the armour manufactured by ‘Englyshe Plate Armourie’ is done so as authentically as possible. Apart from the electrically
powered grinding and polishing processes – which simply replace
the water powered medieval equivalents – other processes are as
close as possible to the hand crafted techniques of the past. Where
required the armour elements (helms, breastplates, gauntlets etc.) are
forged (hammered whilst hot) from single pieces of steel in order that
the plates may be appropriately shaped and matched together. The forging
techniques, once mastered, allow the creation of truly fantastic and
authentic shapes; for like a sculptor working in stone, the armourer
is a highly skilled artisan whose aim is to envelope the human form
in articulated steel plates.
