There are lots of stories of dragons in the Somerset area over the ages so stories of a dragon on the Tor would not be out of place.
Shervage Wood between Crowcombe and Holford was said to be the haunt of at least one dragon. In one story it was a long dragon hacked to death by a forester from Holford.Another story states two men from Crowcombe 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.
At Clevedon, between Dolebury Hill and Cadbury Camp a dragon was reported to guard a secret stash of treasure concealed in this area. The same story is associated with Castle Neroche south of Taunton where treasure is reputed to hidden around the iron Age Hill Fort. On Castleman’s Hill another dragon is supposed to have been vanquished. Stapley Farm near Churchstanton, a dragon was killed by a knight and the swinging of its tail carved out a hollow in a field known as Wormstall.
Kingston St.Mary, near Taunton,a fire-breathing dragon terrorized the region. A local hero rolled a boulder up a hill opposite the dragon’s lair and rolled the boulder down into the dragon’s gaping maw, choking it.
In Low Ham church is a spear supposed to have been used by a local to kill a dragon that lived in the Athelney Marshes and fed on local livestock.
The village of Aller is reputed to be named after a
local hero, John Aller, who slew a dragon. In one version of the story he was
poisoned by the creature’s dying breaths, while in another he found a brood of
hatchlings in a cave and blocked it up.
After a battle at the hill fort at Norton
Fitzwarren, a dragon appeared and began to devour children and destroying crops. Fulk
Fitzwartine fought the creature and
after a long struggle ,put a spear in its
heart and cut off its head. In All Saints Church, a 16th-century rood screen
depicts the story.
In Wells the cathedral is built on the area where the
villagers were afraid to access seven holy springs because of a wyvern, which
was driven away by Bishop Jocelyn. At Wiviliscome in the late
1820s, when the church was being constructed , the devil riding a green
dragon is supposed to have thrown rocks at the reconstruction work until driven
away by St. Andrew.
So could a dragon have wound itself around the Tor
leaving the terraces? Well that depends on you and if you believe in dragons.
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