The Clandon Dragon – Exposed Once More

Published on: 9 Oct, 2018
Updated on: 12 Oct, 2018

The Clandon Dragon re-emerging from years of slumber

A chalk dragon, carved on the embankment by the westbound carriageway of the A246/A25, between West Clandon and the Merrow Park & Ride, is being brought back to its former glory by a team of volunteers.

Under an initiative started by bike tour guide Dominic Crolla, a group of locals from West Clandon are in the process of restoring the chalk dragon to its former glory.

At the start of the project – the Clandon Dragon had all but disappeared

With the support of the local West Clandon Parish Council, the volunteers have been spending weekends during the summer clearing the site, uncovering the original figure and working on a complete restoration.

Dominic Crolla said: “Those too young to remember the chalk dragon figure will not have to wait long to see the dragon breathing fire again, as it did many years ago.

“Why a dragon? Well, according to ancient local mythology a dragon harassed the villagers of the Clandons until being killed by a soldier and his dog. The dragon, therefore, has a long association with West Clandon, an association that has been long been celebrated in the village and is evidenced by the dragon depicted on the village sign and also in the carvings on one of the doors of St Peter & Paul’s church.”

The group restoring the dragon have, so far, carried almost two tons of new chalk onto the slope at the site and have made considerable progress so that the figure is now clearly visible to passing traffic. But work remains to be done before the restoration can be completed and the group will be continuing to work at the site over most weekends for the next month or so.

The latest aerial view shows the progress that has been made

Dominic continued: “As the dragon has been taking shape and has become more visible the level of interest in the project has been rising. This is most welcome as we could do with a few more volunteers to help out for maybe one or two hours at weekends.

“There is a real sense of satisfaction felt when working on the site as you realise that you are in effect bring something, long forgotten, back to life to once again be enjoyed, by not just by the local community, but by all who drive or [like the editor of The Guildford Dragon NEWS] cycle past.”

If you’d like to find out more about the Clandon Dragon, it’s history and the current restoration project or if you’re interested in volunteering (18s and over) or wish to support the project please in the first instance have a look at the project Facebook page.

Responses to The Clandon Dragon – Exposed Once More

Siobhan Sizmur Reply

January 26, 2025 at 12:20 am

I just listened to the talk about this on BBC sounds. Does anyone know who did the Clandon Dragon in 1977?
- Dave Middleton Reply
  
  January 28, 2025 at 1:34 pm
  
  The Clandon Dragon is currently being refurbished. See this page on Facebook, which has an old newspaper clipping about its creation in 1977 to mark the late Queen’s silver jubilee.
  
  A Miss Frances Robinson, of the Clandon Jubilee Committee is mentioned.
  
  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571184013360
David Roberts Reply

January 31, 2025 at 6:41 pm

How ancient is this “ancient” legend? The version I’ve heard, starring a demobbed soldier and his dog, sounds distinctly post-Napoleonic. But perhaps it’s older. Antiquarians of that time were fond of recording and re-working local folklore. At the same time, explanations were being invented for major dinosaur discoveries.

The Clandon Dragon looks awfully Welsh, the heraldic ddraig goch being the most obvious modern design model until Game of Thrones came along. Ancient and oriental dragons were much more serpentine. Any genuine connection with the ancient Celts, however, would have to go back millennia, to when “Dover” still meant water: “dwr” in Welsh.

It’s still possible that there was a medieval legend. Dragons enjoyed something of a media boom in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the similarity to the story of St George is obvious. I also wonder how the Clandon legend compares with the equally archetypal tale of Silent Pool, just a mile away over the hills: ancient tale or modern fabrication? Perhaps both were dreamt up by that Welsh spinner of yarns, Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Clandon’s tame topography hardly suggests the haunt of monsters. Yet who knows? Eight hundred years ago, the Surrey Downs would have been home to bears and wolves, as well as sinister smugglers and vagrants. Did tales of dragons perhaps echo local anxieties about getting lost in the woods? The gypsy episode in Jane Austen’s Emma reminds us how long these persisted, even in domesticated North Hampshire. As a child on the edge of Birmingham in the 1960s, I was often assured that I’d be kidnapped and never seen again if I ever wandered off in the remnants of Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden.

Editor’s note: There is also the legend of the dragon that was supposed to protect what is now St Catherine’s Hill (formerly Draco (or Dragon) Hill). Its is this dragon with its protective role that is lies behind our title The Guildford Dragon NEWS.