St. George On Tower Of St. Peter’s Church – Harrogate, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 59.588 W 001° 32.477
30U E 595630 N 5983742
This statue of St. George slaying the dragon is high up on the wall near the entrance to St. Peter’s Church.
Waymark Code: WME9PH
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/23/2012
Views: 3
St. George
St. George was a Christian Roman soldier from Palestine, who reached the rank of Tribunus in the Guard of the emperor Diocletian.
In AD 302 Diocletian issued an edict against Christians in the army and insisted that every 2nd one should renounce their faith and offer a sacrifice to the Roman Gods.
George appealed to the Emperor to reverse this decision, but Diocletian refused and tried to persuade George to do as he asked. When George refused Diocletian had him tortured and then decapitated in Nicomedia on April 23rd AD 303. This act by George persuaded Empress Alexandra and Athanasius a pagan priest to convert to Christianity and they too were martyred.
George’s body was returned to Palestine, and soon many Christians came to honour him as a martyr.
St. George is associated with the slaying of a dragon, a tale that was brought back from the Crusades in the Medieval period.
St George’s feast day is the 23rd April, the day on which he was martyred. He is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Westernand Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches.
He is also one of the most prominent military saints and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers who each guard against diseases. In the case of St. George he protects the health of domestic animals.
He is usually portrayed slaying a dragon, often with a lance, or sometimes a sword. He also wears the Cross of St George, or sometimes it appears on his shield.
He is the Patron Saint of England, Georgia, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania,Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, the Maltese Island of Gozo and a number of large cities.
He is represented with the cross of St. George, a red cross on a white background. This has been adopted as the flag of England, Republic of Genoa, Liguria, Georgia, Catalonia, Aragon and other places.
The Statue on St. Peter’s Church
In this statue he is standing, wearing chain mail, holding a sword vertically with both hands which he has used to impale the dragon in its mouth.
Unusually the sword blade and handle have been used to represent the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified and shows Jesus on the cross.
Also unusually there is a decapitated head at St. George’s feet, which I assume is symbolic of the fact that St. George himself was decapitated.
The statue is half way up the outside wall of the bell tower in between a pair of windows.
Associated Religion(s): Christian
Statue Location: The church tower of the church of St. Peter
Entrance Fee: None
Website: [Web Link]
Artist: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the statue. A waymarker and/or GPSr is not required to be in the image but it doesn't hurt.