Tuesday 19 October 2010

St Mary-le-Bow dragon - Cheapside EC2

OK so I have to admit about having a thing about dragons (**cue remaining 10 readers of blog closing browser and deleting bookmark...**) - stay with me here, not in a Dungeons and Dragons way (not that there is anything wrong with that) although I did read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy books when I was a youngster (stop judging!).  If you take the time to look around, particularly in the City there are dragons everywhere (check out this guy's site - he knows what I'm talkin' about).  Obviously crazy conspiracy theorists believe there is some sort of symbolism in all these dragons and that people in power around the world are actually reptilian overlords in human disguise - I wouldn't go that far, but try dragon spotting in the City sometime, you'll be amazed.  In fact I am going to do a series of my favourite London dragons - so I thought I would start with my absolute favourite, the nine-foot long golden dragon weather-vane on top of the Wren church of St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside.  Dating from the late 1600s this weather- vane looks enormous, even from street level and I love seeing it from a distance and from different angles - you can actually see the fiery jet coming out of its mouth from a long way away.  Just to show you how obsessed I am about this dragon, I actually wrote a short story which featured it - before you ask, I will not be posting the story on this blog.  Anyway - next time you are stomping down Cheapside, perhaps heading for City Caphe and a super-tasty bahn-mi take a moment, look up and admire London's coolest dragon.

2 comments:

  1. This is my favourite London dragon:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_Bar_Dragon.JPG

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  2. Ted - I love that dragon also! In fact it was neck and neck which one I would choose for my favourite.

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