Thedragon boundary marks arecast iron statues ofdragons (sometimes mistaken forgriffins) on metal or stone plinths thatmark the boundaries of theCity of London. The dragons are painted silver, with details of their wings and tongue picked out in red. The dragon stands on its left rear leg, with the right rear leg lifted forward to support a shield, with the right foreleg raised and the left foreleg holding the top of the shield. The shield bears theCity of London's coat of arms painted in red and white: the redcross of Saint George on a white background, with a red sword in the first quarter, an attribute ofSaint Paul. Saint George and Saint Paul are respectively thepatron saints of England and of London. The dragon's stance is the equivalent of therampant heraldic attitude of thesupporters of the City's arms, which may allude to the legend ofSaint George and the Dragon.
The design is based on two large dragon sculptures, 7 feet (210 cm) high, which were mounted above the entrance to theCoal Exchange onLower Thames Street,[1][2] designed by the City Architect,J. B. Bunning, and made by the London founderDewer in 1849. The dragons were originally painted in a stone colour to match the building.[3] They were preserved when the Coal Exchange was demolished in 1962–63. The two original statues were re-erected on 6 feet (180 cm) high plinths ofPortland stone at the western boundary of the City, byTemple Gardens onVictoria Embankment, in October 1963.
TheCorporation of London's Streets Committee selected the statues as the model for boundary markers for the city in 1964, in preference to the fiercer dragon byC. B. Birch atTemple Bar onFleet Street. Half-size replicas of the original pair of dragons were made byBirmingham Guild Limited and erected at main entrances to the City of London in the late 1960s.[4]
There are now fourteen dragons around the City of London.[5][6] In addition to the Birch dragon at Temple Bar, and the two original Coal Exchange statues on Victoria Embankment, there are two replicas of the Coal Exchange design at the south end ofLondon Bridge, two onHigh Holborn nearGray's Inn Road, and single replicas onAldgate High Street,Norton Folgate (north ofBishopsgate),Byward Street,Moorgate,Goswell Road (north ofAldersgate Street),Farringdon Street, and at the south end ofBlackfriars Bridge.[7]
The two original Coal Exchange dragons and their stone plinths on Victoria Embankment became Grade II listed buildings in 1972.[8] The dragons to either side of High Holborn were mounted on granite obelisks which originally supported lanterns; these 19th-century obelisks were also listed in 1972.[9][10]
Outside London, there is also a replica atLake Havasu City, Arizona, where the 19th-centuryLondon Bridge was reconstructed in 1971.
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