Somerset has many dragon myths, legends and folklore with stories and traditions being passed down the generations. Tales include a story of a dragon killed by a local man called Fulk Fitzwarin and at Kingston St Mary a village is said to have rolled a large stone down a hill to kill a dragon, there are many more dragon myths and legends in the region

The county of Somerset features a dragon as part of the county crest, the dragon is depicted often as a red dragon but also features as a white dragon over a red background on the emblem. The county council adopted the dragon back in 1908. There are many representations of dragons to be found in Somerset such as dragons found on or in churches dating from the 8th-9th century, dragon and wyvern mosaics, dragon featuring on the signage of the county library, a dragon on the county crest of Somerset cricket club and countless other examples

Somerset Brick and Tile Museum in Bridgwater

The many dragon myths and legends have special relevance because in the 1840s 1300 people in Bridgwater produced bricks and tiles using local clay at Barham Brothers, makers of bricks, tiles, cement and plaster. Some of the pieces produced included original clay dragon finials, wyverns, griffins, grotesques and mythical beasts. Today the Somerset Brick and Tile Museum in Bridgwater is a tribute to a bygone era and dedicated to the brick and tile industry of Somerset. The museum celebrates Somerset’s rich history and exhibits artifacts from the area including some decorative dragon finials
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The reason that dragons feature so heavily in Somerset as roof dragons, ridge dragons and finials could be for any of the following reasons:

- To ward off evil spirits
- To celebrate local myths and legends
- Decoration and relevance to Somerset
- To symbolise the victory of Christianity over Paganism

We have some excellent examples of ridge dragons, wyverns and grotesques that are very much in keeping with the dragon myths and legends of Somerset and can serve as an excellent feature on roofs, in the garden or to other kinds of displays or structure to add relevant character and charm

Check out the gallery photos below and be sure to check out the great ridge dragon designs that we offer

We supplied these stunning winged ridge dragons to a customer that was refurbishing their roof with slates and terracotta ridge tiles and they sent us in a collection of photos showing the finished works. The property is located in Streatham, London and there are many properties in the area that feature decorative roof finials and dragons as part of the architecture. The winged dragons are installed at opposite ends of the ridge tile run on hip end roofs, As you can see in the photos gable end roof finials can actually be used to great effect on a roof with hip ends and instead of the finial shaped in such a way to lead into the hips (hip end finials) the actual ridge tiles on the hips are cut\angle grinded to meet the finials and the mortar bonds and leaves a nice neat finish

The customer has used new ridge tiles for their roof refurbishment, these will weather naturally on the roof when moss and lichen takes to them and local conditions, dirt and dust will weather them as will the roof dragons. The terracotta ridges and finials look great installed on the slate roof because it gives a nice colour variation and when you look at the property as a whole it gives nice character because the terracotta roof fittings and mortar match nicely with the brickwork and other detail in the property and the slate is a contrasting colour but natural looking

There is another dragon that was installed on a gable end roof for the same property which is shown in the finial gallery below. You can't see from the photos but this gable end dragon looks out over the garden so creates a nice features and gives character to the roof

Check out the gallery photos below and be sure to check out the great ridge dragon designs that we offer