471 | Mapped – the dragons that surround London | ----------- | |
ianVisits – London news and events | 2019-10-08 15:10 | ????0? | |
Much like the City boundary dragons, there are also Coal Posts that encircle the old boundary for the coal tax, and many examples still exist dotted around Greater London. To help manage the trade in coal, in 1847 a grand building was constructed near the Tower of London, and high above the main entrance, two plinths held two large cast iron dragons.The dragons are all painted silver, with details of their wings and tongue picked out in red. The dragon stands on one rear leg, the other lifted against a shield, 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. The stance is the equivalent of the rampant heraldic attitude of the supporters of the City’s arms.This is a Dragon that moves. The area has seen a lot of roadworks over the past decade, and the dragon used to stand a bit further to the east in a pedestrian traffic island. That is now the middle of a road, so in 2014 the dragon was removed, and a couple of years ago the dragon was erected at its current location outside Aldgate House.There used to be a dragon on Moorgate, at the junction with South Place, but it was removed some years ago – temporarily — due to Crossrail construction works going on just down the same road. Occasionally very large loads need to come down the road, and not even one of London’s dragons could hold back a modern lorry.The plinths are interesting as they are obviously different from the other dragon’s which are mounted on thin metal columns or the two on Embankment which had dedicated stone plinths made for them. It seems that the plinths already marked the boundary with the City and predate the dragons. They were simply reused. If you look very closely at this photo, you can see the plinth behind the tube station entrance, with the original pyramid topping. -- ???????? | |||
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