The Three Dragons Walk

Today, at Joyce's request, I led a favourite walk for this time of year from Bures St. Mary - the Three Dragons walk.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Monday April 14th. A 13-mile walk led by John, visiting Arger Fen for bluebells, Assington Mill and some dragons. We will start from Bures Community Centre, Nayland Rd, Bures CO8 5BX at 9:30 am. Please bring refreshments and a packed lunch as there are no facilities along the route. We will stop for drinks by the lake at Assington Mill and lunch at Wissington church. Expect plenty of ups and downs and lovely views."

This was our route today reusing the route from the last time I led this walk 2 years ago.

Here are a few of my photos.

There were 12 of us today. Here we are setting off.

A bit of a climb to start with. This is the view back down the hill to Bures.

We soon reached St. Stephen's Chapel, dedicated in 1218 and allegedly built on the site of the coronation of King Edmund on Christmas Day in AD 876.

Here we had a view of our first dragon. As this website says... 

"The story of the Bures dragon was first recorded in 1405 by a local monk, and recounted several times thereafter. According to the account, several townsfolk claimed they saw the terrifying creature firsthand. The huge beast had a crested head, serrated teeth, and long tail. It terrorized the village, breathing fire at anything that moved and even killing a shepherd and his flock.

The town was panicked. The men of the fiefdom tried to kill the dragon with arrows, but they bounced right off the monster's hard skin. Soon, men from across the country were summoned to slay the dragon, which fled down river toward the adjacent village of Wormingford and disappeared into the marshes, never to be seen again. (Or, to hear the town of Wormingford tell it, was heroically slain there.)

In one account, the relieved bowmen of Bures, having chased off the villain, celebrated by heading to the pub for a meal of dragon-roasted sheep.

While the villagers of Bures almost certainly did not witness a dragon that spring of 1405, the sighting of a scaly beast may in fact be true. The prevailing theory is that the "dragon" may have actually been a crocodile that was given to King Richard I ("Richard the Lionheart") as a gift from King Saladin during the 12th-century Crusades. The reptile would have been kept at the Tower of London in the royal menagerie, but is believed to have escaped and ended up in the marshes near Bures.

In any event, the region has long associated with the medieval mythical beast. Several old churches in the area have depictions of dragons on their walls, including a 15th-century painting of the storied creature in the Wissington Church a few miles from Bures.

In honour of this legendary dragon, and in celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee, the Bures Dragon was etched into the hill in 2012, a physical rendition of the local tale."

Here it is.

And this is the plaque explaining it.

It was Pam who spotted and pointed out the St Edmund crown in the thatched roof of the chapel.

The same symbol is outlined on the reputed coronation stone.

Onward now via this bizarre sign appropriated, I surmise, from the region of Siena in Italy.

We were blessed by good weather.

In Tigers Hill fen we came across our first bluebell wood.

We walked past some sheep and their lambs.

We passed some oxlips among the primroses on the lane down to  Assington Mill 

Here we had our drinks break by the mill pond.

Onwards now...

...to the Arger Fen nature reserve.

The wild garlic will be flowering soon.

Now we were in  Spouse's Grove  where we found another fabulous display of bluebells.

Here we said good-bye to Steve, who wasn't walking the full distance today.

We passed the lovely house and gardens of Wissington Grange.

We had our lunch stop at St. Mary's church, Wissington (pronounced and often spelt Wiston), which dates from 1135 or even earlier.

Here we found our second dragon. Simon Knott's site describes the other paintings, which date from 1280, and that the dragon is a later addition. "Being a later addition of the 15th Century, he is quite out of scale with the other images, and in quite a different style."

As Simon Knott's site says.. "At the other end of the north wall [from the dragon] is the earliest known English image of St Francis. He is shown preaching to the birds in the tree. If 1280, the estimated date for this work, is broadly correct, then this could have been painted by people who were alive in the lifetime of their subject."

Does this count as another dragon?

Time to carry on with our walk.

Soon after, we crossed the River Stour into Essex.

Now we were on the Stour Valley Path, which we would follow back to our start.

Another long climb gave us glorious views when we got to the top.

We could see Wiston church below.

We could also see the tower of Stoke-by-Nayland church.

We passed close to Little Horkesley church, but didn't visit.

Our final stop was at at St. Andrew's Church, Wormingford. You can read all about its history here.

Here we found out third dragon.

 

There is a framed document by it telling the story. I loved the bits "...swimming, crawling, ravaging it found its way to that small settlement on the banks of the Stour called Withermundford. The few natives were terrified at the new arrival and a rumour spread among them that it could only be pacified with human sacrifice and so long as the supply lasted they fed the creature with virgins. Doubtless the temporary prodigality of food kept the  cocodrille well and happy but the supply of food gave out and the natives, at their wits end sent to sir George Of layer de la Haye, son of Eustice Earl Of Boulogne telling the gallant knight that their was a fierce dragon which had settled with them and which they had tried, in vain to slay with arrows which bounce from its hide and then had pacified it with virgins but, alas, there were no more virgins in the hundred."

You can read the full story here.

Some of the other stained glass windows were rather lovely.

Our last leg, after one more uphill stretch would be downhill.

We walked through our last bluebell wood of the day.

This building is actually a pumping station. Anglian Water were required to house it in a building in keeping with the landscape.

We recrossed the River Stour into Suffolk at the picturesque Bures Mill

Not far to go now.

A great day for the walk. Maybe we were just a week early to see the bluebells at their best, but they were still lovely. Thanks to all for coming. I think there may have been a few tired legs afterwards. Great training for Eastbourne!

You can find more details of our 12.6 mile route here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr.

Other related walks you can find on my blog include

Stour Valley Dragon Walk (May 2018)

Sudbury and Bures Walk  (Aug 2019)

Bures Walk (Jun 2020)

Three Dragons (and a Tiger) Walk (Sep 2021)

Three Dragons Walk (Apr 2022)

Sudbury to Bures Walk (Sep 2022)

Argers Fen Bluebells and 3 Dragons Walk (Apr 2023)

St Edmund Way Part 6 (May 2024)