Tradition: English Mythology
Alternative Names: Christchurch Dragon
Category: Dragon
The Myth
The Christchurch Dragon was an enormous dragon with five heads and a body of extraordinary length. It breathed sulphurous flames from its heads and flew in from the sea.
The creature appeared in Christchurch on the eve of the town’s annual fair. Nine canons from Laon Cathedral in France had arrived in the town during a torrential rainstorm, seeking shelter in the local minster church. The dean refused them, claiming that the doors of the newly built church were not yet secure. In truth, he feared that the canons’ shrine and relics of the Virgin Mary would attract more offerings than his own altars.
Unable to stay in the church, the canons were taken in by a group of merchants who gave up their rooms in a newly built lodging house. That night, the canons held mass there. They also cared for the daughter of a poor herdsman, a girl who had been born with a deformed foot. She spent the night praying before the canons’ portable altar, and by morning her foot had been miraculously healed.
The next morning the merchants went to the fair while the canons continued their journey. They had not travelled far when two horsemen came rushing after them with terrible news: a dragon had flown in from the sea and was setting Christchurch ablaze.
The canons hurried back to witness the destruction. The dragon was immense, stretching an incredible length, and its five heads poured sulphurous fire upon the town. One house after another burst into flames as the beast swept through Christchurch.
Yet the lodging house where the kindly merchants had sheltered the canons remained untouched, as did the herdsman’s shelter where the healed girl lived. The merchants themselves had also escaped, having left the fair early before the dragon appeared.
The minster church, however, had been completely destroyed.
The dean, realizing the destruction was upon him, tried to save his possessions. He loaded his most valuable goods onto a boat on the nearby river and attempted to escape with them. But the dragon swooped down upon the boat and burned it, reducing both the vessel and everything aboard to ashes.
Seeing what had happened, the dean finally understood the wrong he had committed. He prostrated himself before the canons’ shrine and prayed for forgiveness for his selfishness and the wrong he had done.
Sources
“Christchurch Dragon.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed September 20, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_Dragon