Dragon - Byward Street (London, UK)
N 51° 30.565 W 000° 04.709
30U E 702728 N 5710523
The depicted cast dragon holding the City of London coat of arms, marking the boundary of the City, is located on Byward Street close to the All Hallows-by-the-Tower church...
Waymark Code: WMM7JQ
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/05/2014
Views: 14
The depicted cast dragon holding the City of London coat of arms, marking the boundary of the City, is located on Byward Street close to the All Hallows-by-the-Tower church.
A dragon is a winged reptile, a scaled creature, with the tail of a serpent, capable of breathing smoke or fire. Think teeth, flared nostrils, scales and a snake-like tail and you’ve got the essence of a dragon! These creatures can be found throughout history even back to bible times, where the devil is referred to as being a dragon, in the book of Revelation. In classical legend, they are associated with guarding something. For example, in Greek mythology, a ten headed dragon guarded the golden apples, in the Garden of the Hesperides. In medieval romance, dragons spent a lot of time guarding pretty, captive women. In England, we associate St. George with slaying the Dragon and indeed dragons guard the City of London and mark out the different gates around the city i.e Aldersgate, Bishopegate, Temple Bar, Bridge Gate and Moorgate.
The dragon boundary marks are cast iron statues of dragons on metal or stone plinths that mark the boundaries of the City of London. The dragons are painted silver, with details of their wings and tongue picked out in red. The dragon stands on its two rear legs, with the right foreleg raised and the left foreleg holding a shield which bears the City of London's coat of arms, painted in red and white.
[more details here in Wikipedia]