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| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it. |
[Dragons have long been an obsession of mine.
In my eyes their long and mighty forms cloaked the ridges of the moorland hills and sawed faster than army jets through the bright skies. At school the seagulls where the free and distant forms of dragons, in my dreams their mighty arching wings birthed a wake of forest. When I was angry I would ripple through the air on long strokes of wings that beat to the timing of my lungs and no force can intimidate me when I see the dragon beyond the trees..
The West Country hasreletively few dragons, though they are as mighty as any.. Certianly they are outnumbered down here by Giants and Pixies. This meander will show what I have found of West Country dragons so far-
I have read that the slaying of the dragon represented the domination of Christianity (embodied in the saint) over other faiths (represented by the Dragon). I have also read that the spilling of the dragons blood, or pinning of the dragon to the ground is an older allusion to the release of natures fertility into the ploughed earth of the farmer. I would not take either of these ideas as the absolute truth. History always spreads its roots wide for inspiration.
There is of course Saint George and the dragon, Saint George being a feature of mummers plays and the dragon sometimes being mentioned (see Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England
for example). In North Devon the dragononly appears breifly, and describes himself as being composed of different sorts of metals, while at Bovey Trace a wooden mask with bullocks teeth and whiskers, and a tinbuttoned coat with tails might have been a dragon (see The Mummer's Play in Devon and Newfoundland by Theo Brown. Both the Dragon and Saint George are described as being present in pre-19th century May Day celebrations (see Mrs Bray's A Description of the Part of Devonshire Bordering On the Tamar and the Tavy, Letters to R. Southey). Saint Michael the Archangel and his slaying of dragons is celebrated in our local church in Chagford, in the form of a carving and a staned glass window.
for example). In North Devon the dragononly appears breifly, and describes himself as being composed of different sorts of metals, while at Bovey Trace a wooden mask with bullocks teeth and whiskers, and a tinbuttoned coat with tails might have been a dragon (see The Mummer's Play in Devon and Newfoundland by Theo Brown. Both the Dragon and Saint George are described as being present in pre-19th century May Day celebrations (see Mrs Bray's A Description of the Part of Devonshire Bordering On the Tamar and the Tavy, Letters to R. Southey). Saint Michael the Archangel and his slaying of dragons is celebrated in our local church in Chagford, in the form of a carving and a staned glass window. |
| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it |
But these are foreign dragons. I want dragons from the land I have walked upon!
I realise I am beginning sounding a bit like the gullible emettes (tourists) sent by locals to fight the dragons on Bodmin at Halgaver's Dragon Pit, (from Meyn Mamvro
but bare with me...
but bare with me... One dragon is found in the name of a man much referred to in ancient Westcountry (esp. but not exclusively Cornish) lore (as well as elsewhere in Britain and France). This is Uter Pendragon (also referred to in Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England). But I shall not dwell on him - I want fire and wings, majesty and mystery, gold and maidens, curling horns and sharp talons and eyes as deep as the ocean! I want the Dragon who if you are born on a Sunday in Devon you stand a chance of facing and taking the treasure from (ok, so this may be a metaphor, thus making my point pointless...).
). But I shall not dwell on him - I want fire and wings, majesty and mystery, gold and maidens, curling horns and sharp talons and eyes as deep as the ocean! I want the Dragon who if you are born on a Sunday in Devon you stand a chance of facing and taking the treasure from (ok, so this may be a metaphor, thus making my point pointless...).I want 'real' dragons!
There are many ancient dragon saint and Dragon stories in Cornwall, many supposedly dating back to the first millennium.
Staint Carantoc, a Welsh saint who later lived in Crantoc, Cornwall (acording to his legends). A legend I have not been able to satisfactorily untangle involving a cursed altar, King Arthur, Somerset and the King of the ancient Cornish/Devonian/Somerset kingdom of Dumnonia, ends with the saint stopping King Arthur's men from slaying a winged serpent in Cornwall. An alternative version has him defeating (or subduing) the Dragon himself to retrieve his altar, founding a monastery at Carhampton on land gifted to him for his brave deed. (This is from a mixture of1997, Baring-gould's The Lives of British Saints Vol II
and Wikipedia!).
and Wikipedia!). Saint Sampson slew a Cornish Dragon, while better known Saint Petroc of Cornwall and West Devon, in one version of his life, cured a dragon by plucking a stake from its eye (thus showing true christian virtue). Another version has him trapping the dragon/serpant in its marshy home. This dragon was formed by who kept many serpents in a marsh to throw criminal in. When his son put a stop to the practice the serpent ate on another until only one giant wyrm remained. Saint Petroc put a girdle about the serpent and led it tamely to the sea, where he released it, rather like saint Patric and the snakes of Ireland. This ocurance has been linked to the dancing of the Obby-oss by traitors pool near Padstow on May-Day (from Meyn Mamvro. It all sounds very allegorical to me, and fits very well with the Dragon being a Pagan religion, as does a more resent dragon / saint manifestation at Wievliscombe in Somerset in 1827 (more info -
. It all sounds very allegorical to me, and fits very well with the Dragon being a Pagan religion, as does a more resent dragon / saint manifestation at Wievliscombe in Somerset in 1827 (more info -  |
| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it |
Belemnites
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| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it |
Out here on Dartmoor we have also have a Dragon legend - the story of the Dragon of Wo brook. Indead William Crossing hints that there where once more dragon legends on the moor (Folk rhymes of Devon
). The Wo, or O Brook dragon, in typical dragonish style (or at least in typical anthropocentric retelling), terrified the neighborhood from it cave on the edge of the brook, eating both sheep and unwary human travelers. It may not have been alone, though it is the one that is remembered best. On a nearby hillside to Week Ford is a prehistoric hut circle with a gable-end added, said to be where the workmen hid their tools in a time when dragons flourished in the valley below (William Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor
). The dragon was described as a winged serpent, though it must also have had feat, for when the locals banded up and caught the beast (they have no need of heroes here on the moor - if you want a job doing you do it yourself) they bound it hand and foot and tossed it in the river to drown. Such is the unhappy lot of dragons...
). The Wo, or O Brook dragon, in typical dragonish style (or at least in typical anthropocentric retelling), terrified the neighborhood from it cave on the edge of the brook, eating both sheep and unwary human travelers. It may not have been alone, though it is the one that is remembered best. On a nearby hillside to Week Ford is a prehistoric hut circle with a gable-end added, said to be where the workmen hid their tools in a time when dragons flourished in the valley below (William Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor). The dragon was described as a winged serpent, though it must also have had feat, for when the locals banded up and caught the beast (they have no need of heroes here on the moor - if you want a job doing you do it yourself) they bound it hand and foot and tossed it in the river to drown. Such is the unhappy lot of dragons...Another was said to have lived and died (again killed) at Manaton on Dartmoor, hissing in its mineshaft lair (more info - http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk)
Some dragons are not easily vanquished. At Aller in Somerset a farmer called John Aller lay in wait in a marsh for their local fiery dragon who lived at Curry Rivel and had taken to destroying crops with its breath. John smote off its head, but everywhere the blood fell the land was made barren - no grass grows their to this day. He himself was badly burnt by the blood, so badly that he lived only long enough to be carried to the church. In gratitude the local farmers named the village after him (from
In Zennor, in Cornwall, a large Wyrm was driven out or killed by setting fire to the gorse, making it a little at odds with other dragonic vanquishments where water was the predominant element (from Meyn Mamvro (more info -
(more info -  |
| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it |
. The dragon of Norton Fitzwarren was killed by the more refined blade of an 13th century Sir Fulk. The dragon itself was said to have risen from the decaying bodies of the dead Britons killed by the Romans at a local Iron Age hill fort. Another dragon was slain by a knight at Churchstanton (more info -
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| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it |
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| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it |
One dragon has not been vanquished from Devon, though it was mentioned over 400 years ago (see William Crossing's Folk rhymes of Devon), and that is the Dragon of Cadbury Castle and Dodburry - both ancient (Iron Age?) hill forts. Surely this dragon must be the last lonely remnant of its kind down here to have not one but two huge hoards of treasure that it guards, so vast in wealth that -
), and that is the Dragon of Cadbury Castle and Dodburry - both ancient (Iron Age?) hill forts. Surely this dragon must be the last lonely remnant of its kind down here to have not one but two huge hoards of treasure that it guards, so vast in wealth that -"If Cadbury and Dolbury dolven were,
All England might plough with a golden share."
)or
"If Cadbury Castle and Dolbury Hill down delved were,
Then Denshire might plough with a golden coulter,
And eare with a gilded shere."
Then Denshire might plough with a golden coulter,
And eare with a gilded shere."
(William Crossing's Folk rhymes of Devon)
)This Dragon is a fiery beast that may only be seen at midnight, when it flys from one hoard to another, guarding its nest in solitary and awe-full splendor. Many other hills in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset are also said to hold vast hoards, though no other has a dragon still guarding it (William Crossing's Folk rhymes of Devon).
).Having said this was the sole survivor of the Dragonish race Devon does hold one or two other stories. In the 17th century twelve or so Dragons where seen at Winkliegh, while no story exists of the slaying of the dragons at Challacombe, or the removal of their bronze- age hoard (more info - ...]
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| A drawing of mine of a dragon - please attribute this blog if you wish to use it |
I hadn't seen all those pictures - really great work. And, 'History always spreads its roots wide for inspiration. ' - if only all historians acknowledged that!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant work. I learnt quite a few things here and I really loved your illustrations.
ReplyDelete