Location: Aller, Curry Rivel (Somerset) - Exact area unknown
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The village is named after a local hero who slew a dragon but died as the beast released a final breath of flame. In another version of the tale, the hero survives and finds a brood of hatchlings in the dragon's cave, which is subsequently blocked up.
Location: Anwick (Lincolnshire) - Drake Stone, currently in the churchyard
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: 1651, stone still present
Further Comments: A farmer watched in horror as his horses and plough were sucked underground in the middle of a field - a few seconds later a large dragon emerged and flew off. The stone that remains today is said to cover the dragon's treasure. Some believe the dragon was in fact Satan.
Snakes, storms and serpents.
Location: Berkhamsted (Hertfordshire) - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Whilst visiting Britain, St Paul, was supposed to have banished forever all snakes, dragons, and
thunderstorms. One out of three is not too bad...
An old postcard showing Betws y Coed in Wales.
Location: Betws y Coed (Clwyd) - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A bandit from a nearby village tried to kill the Wybrant Gwiber but failed. The bandit's throat was torn out and his body thrown into the river. What happened to the dragon is not known.
Location: Bignor (Sussex) - Bignor hill
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large snake-like creature wrapped itself around Bignor hill and squeezed so tightly that it left imprints of its coils.
Location: Bilsdale (Yorkshire) - Exact location not known
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A dragon was said to reside in a tumulus, protecting its hoard.
A dragon carved in wood.
Location: Bishop Auckland (Durham) - Wooded area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A creature, said by legend to be a long, hostile worm, but likely to have been a boar, inhabited an oak wood and would attack man and beast. It was slain by a member of the Pollard family.
Location: Bisterne (Hampshire) - Dragon Fields
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area was held to ransom by a fire breather who demanded a pail of milk once a day. The knight who engaged the dragon in battle barely made it out of the conflict with his life, and though the dragon lay slain, the victor died shortly after.
Location: Brent Pelham (Hertfordshire) - Exact location unknown, but buried in St Mary church
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Piers Shonks is a celebrated local dragon slayer, whose tomb in the village church is decorated with his battle. One story says he died after Satan came to seek revenge for the death of his pet, another that Satan tried to claim his soul many years later when Piers lay on his deathbed; the Devil said that he would take Piers' soul whether buried inside a church or not, so the man was buried in the north wall of the local church, denying the Devil of his prize.
An Image from An Essay Towards a Natural History of Serpents.
Location: Brinsop (Hereford & Worcester) - Lower Stanks and Duck's Pool Meadow near the church
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The village of Brinsop claims to be the location where St George had his famous battle with a dragon. The creature lived in Duck's Pool Meadow but was finally slain at Lower Stanks meadow. An old stone carving in the church depicts the final battle.
Location: Bures (Suffolk) - Exact location not known
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Fifteenth century
Further Comments: The local church gives the account of how a local dragon that was immune to arrows was finally chased into the marshes where it vanished. A virtually identical tale exists from nearby Wormingford.
Location: Burley (Hampshire) - Hill known as Burley Beacon
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This dragon terrorised the neighbourhood after demanding a sacrifice of sheep - the locals gave him milk instead. Before long, the reliable knight of yore came along, covered his armour with birdlime (a sticky substance made from bark) and powered glass, and the engaged the creature. The knight won the fight, but his two hunting dogs were killed, and he later died of his sustained injuries.
Location: Buslingthorpe (Lincolnshire) - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A member of the Buslingthorpe family was said to have killed a dragon in this area and was awarded a large amount of land for the act of bravery.
Location: Carhampton (Somerset) - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Saint Carantoc, while searching for his altar, met with King Arthur who voiced concerns about a dragon terrorizing the county. Carantoc agreed to help the King (in return for the location of the altar), and tamed the dragon using his stole. Locals wanted to kill the creature, but the saint set it free after making the dragon promise never to hurt anyone again.
Location: Castle Carlton (Lincolnshire) - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Hugh Bardolfe takes credit for slaying this dragon, noted for having a single eye located in its forehead. Man and beast fought during a storm, and when the dragon was blinded by a flash of lightning, Sir Hugh struck a wart on one of its legs, killing it.
The cockatrice of the castle.
Location: Castle Gwys (Dyfed) - Exact area not known
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The body of this cockatrice was covered with eyes, and it was said that the estates of Winston belonged to anyone who could see the creature before it could see them. One man managed to win the lands by hiding in a barrel which rolled into the monster's lair.
Location: Cawthorne (Yorkshire) - Cawthorn Park region
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A winged serpent dwelt in Serpent's Well and would between the area and Cawthorn Park.
Fire breathing dragon.
Location: Challacombe (Devon) - Bronze Age burial mounds in the area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Breathing fire as they travelled, the dragons in this region are said to have an interest in Bronze Age burial mounds scattered around the region.
Off the coast of Christchurch - one of the sites of a dragon attack.
Location: Christchurch (Dorset) - Skies above and off coast
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Circa 1113
Further Comments: The third abbot of Saint Martin of Tournai documented the arrival of a five headed dragon in Christchurch. The dragon was said to have emerged from the sea and taken flight towards the town, destroying the church and many of the surrounding houses (but not those occupied by the abbot and his entourage). The dean of the destroyed church tried to escape by boat, but the vessel was also incinerated (although the dean escaped harm).
Location: Churchstanton (Somerset) - Area where Stapley Farm now stands
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The dragon which took up residence in this area was killed by a knight; the lashing of the dying dragon's tail is said to have carved out a hollow in a field known as Wormstall.
Location: Crowcombe (Somerset) - Shervage Wood
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two men from the village engaged a double-headed winged lizard that terrorised the area, winning the battle by forcing the creature to eat burning pitch. Carvings on the benches in the Church of the Holy Ghost show some of the battle.
Location: Dalry (Ayrshire) - Mote Hill
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local blacksmith eventually killed this beast by constructing a suit of armour covered with retractable spikes. The creature swallowed the smith whole who then wriggled so violently that the monster's intestines were ripped to shreds.
Location: Deerhurst (Gloucestershire) - Exact location unknown
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: John Smith, a local hero, was rewarded with a large amount of land after killing a dragon that was trying to make a home in the neighbourhood. Smith left a large quantity of milk for the creature to consume. The wyrm drunk so much milk that kinks appeared in its scales, enabling Smith to decapitate it with an axe.
Location: Dinas Emrys (Gwynedd) - Thought to be location where the spring can be found
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Every time construction started on Vortigern's Tower, it collapsed. Vortigern asked the druids why this was, and they recommended sacrificing a boy to settle the earth. A young lad was brought, but he told Vortigern that the tower fell because two mighty dragons fought beneath the ground in a stone chest. This boy grew up to become Merlin.
Location: Dolbury (aka Dolebury) (Devon) - Exe valley between Dolbury Hill & Cadbury Hill
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Every night (reoccurring)
Further Comments: To guard the treasure buried under both hills, this beast flies between the two locations each night.