British Dragons

British Dragons traces the changing image of the dragon from classical mythology into the legends, folktales and local traditions of Britain. Jacqueline Simpson begins with serpents and sea-monsters in ancient stories, then considers how later communities imagined, remembered and represented dragon-like creatures.

The book brings together accounts associated with Lambton and its famous worm, the dragon of Mordiford, the Lyminster story and the Sockburn tradition. Saints, knights and other dragon-slayers appear alongside wyverns, cockatrices, church carvings, tomb effigies, place-names and village pageants. These varied materials show how dragons function in British folklore as monsters to be defeated, symbols to be interpreted and stories attached to particular landscapes.