Where dragons clash

The Welsh epic the Mabinogion maintains that the University town of Oxford is the supposed centre of Britain (it certainly isn’t – that’s Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire; Lindley Hall Farm in Leicestershire is the geographical core of England) is the resting place of two ancient dragons.

During the reign of King Lludd ab Beli,Britain was beset by three plagues; the first were the troublesome Corryaneid (faery folk), the second was the hideous great shriek heard on the eve of May which turned milk and caused women to become infertile; the third was the mysterious theft of food from cellars of the king's household.

Lludd went to his clever brother Llevelys for advice; concerning the first plague, he rid the faerie folk with deadly poisonous insects; the second was caused by the Red Brittonic dragon fighting the White Saxon Dragon. Lludd was instructed to find the exact centre of Britain (Carfax crossroads at the heart of Oxford), dig a deep pit and place a cauldron in it filled with the mead.

When the dragons fought on the next May Eve, they became exhausted and fell into the cauldron, becoming intoxicated and very sleepy. They were buried at the crossroads, where they reside to this very day.

Or alternatively, they were shortly afterwards taken to Dinas Ffaraon (now called Dinas Emrys) and buried there, later to be dug up by King Vortigern, (on the advice of Merlin), in order to build the castle whose ruins can still be seen.

The third plague was a thieving sorcerous giant who snuck into Llud’s household at night and ate all the food; the King trapped him and forced the miscreant to be his devoted bodyguard thereafter.

Did dragons spark later Carfax conflicts?

The violence of the dragons’ altercation appears to have deeply affected the ancient Carfax area, as at least two ferocious conflicts have since occurred in the district.

These were the St Scholastica Day anti-student riot of 1355 (63 students were slain) and in 1936, The Battle of Carfax, where the British Union of Fascists (BUF) fought local anti-fascists, trade unionists, Labour Party supporters and Communists. Oswald Mosley and his cowardly thugs started the ruckus, but were chastised and seen off by their opponents.

I cannot pretend I am sorry that an Oxford audience did not take this ‘sitting down.’ It is Mosley’s peculiar art to make decent law-abiding people see red. In that case it might be better for the decent law-abiding people to leave him to mouth in a vacuum. H. S. Crossman (New College)

Dragon Hill

In nearby Uffington there lies Dragon Hill, a natural chalk mound with an artificially flattened top; according to legend Saint George slew the dragon here; a bare patch of chalk upon which no grass will grow marks the spot where the dragon's acidic blood leaked out. It has also been suggested as the place where Iron Age rituals took place, possibly even human/animal sacrifices associated with the White Horse chalk figure overlooking the hill.

Cloudbusting

The video for Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting (1985) was shot at Dragon Hill, where the late Donald Sutherland played the singer’s father.

More dragonesque tales to ponder

Wales of course, has long associated with dragons (hence the national flag); but so is England.

Other sites linked to the mythic beasts in mine own country include:

The Dragon of Unsworth (Lancs): A dragon terrorizing the area was killed by Sir Thomas Unsworth

Fiery Dragons at Lindisfarne Island (Northumberland): supposedly presaged the coming of the Vikings

Winlatter Rock (Derbyshire): A priest is said to have banished a dragon here, leaving his footprints embedded in the rock.

The Ludham Dragon (Norfolk)): Potentially based on a menagerie escapee, as the Norfolk Chronicle has this report for September 28 1782: ‘On Monday the 16th, a snake of enormous size was destroyed at Ludham in this county by Jasper Andrews, of that place. It measured five feet eight inches long, was almost three feet in circumference, and had a very long snout: what was remarkable, there were two excrescences on the forepart of the head which very much resembled horns. ‘This creature seldom made its appearance in the daytime but kept concealed in subterranean retreats, several of which have been discovered in town: one near the tanning office, another in the premises of the Rev Mr Jeffery, and another in the lands occupied by Mr William Popple, at the hall. The skin of the above surprising reptile is now in the possession of Mr J(James) Garrett, a wealthy farmer in the neighbourhood.’

The Exe Valley (Devon): According to legend, a fire-breathing dragon protects treasures buried under two Iron Age hillforts: Dolbury Hill and Killerton. The dragon swoops between the two sites, never staying long at either location.

The Bures dragon (Essex/Suffolk): driven off by locals, the dragon’s hide was arrow-resistant but it also didn’t like being shot at, so it decided to leave the villagers sheep alone and so retreated to nearby marshes. The chalk art was created in 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Little Cornard dragons (Suffolk): In 1449 a fight between two dragons took place by the River Stour. One dragon was black and came from Kedington Hill, Suffolk, the other was red and came from Ballingdon Hill, Essex. After an hour’s punch-up he red dragon won, then both departed to their respective hills. The site of the battle is known locally as Sharpfight Meadow.

Incidentally, the local Cornard church is said to be haunted:

Deerhurst (Gloucestershire): A serpent-like dragon lurked there in local folklore – check out the church:

Drakelow (Worcestershire & Derbyshire): The name of two villages derived from the Latin word for dragon, "drake," suggesting a dragon legend in the areas

The Wormingford (Essex) – supposedly killed in the fifteenth century by either Sir Bertram de Haye or Sir George Marney, and caused the village to change its name to Wormingford; sources suggest it could have been actually another crocodile from the royal menagerie. Akin to the UK movie The Hatching (2014):

The Dragon of Christchurch (Dorset): A huge five-headed, fire-breathing dragon that terrorised the coastal town of Christchurch:

The Dragon of Bignor Hill (Sussex): "A Large dragon had its den on Bignor Hill, and marks of its folds were to be seen on the hill".

London – but these dragons are purely symbolic:

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