NEWS RELEASES
Another Dragon Slayed at Horsham Museum
16th April 2007
On St George’s Day in a land of castles, lakes and dragons, a dragon will be slayed. Never more will the myth of a dragon roam the ancient woodland of Sussex surrounding the timber framed medieval market town of Horsham. For on this day the trusty sword of truth will cut to size the rumours, folk tales and superstitions that fed this hungry beast. On 23rd April 2007, St George’s Day, Horsham Museum is republishing the full, un-edited and dramatic 1614 publication of the ‘Dragon of St Leonard’s Forest’.
For over 200 years the town of Horsham has been gripped by the dragon tale. In the Regency period, when the new town hall was built to look like a castle, the dragon’s tail was added to the town crest that adorned the front façade. Only ten years or so ago the town had a superb bronze sculpture made of the dragon as the centrepiece of a maze. Stories about the Horsham dragon were published and republished in local and national publications. All of them, every single one, telling the same story and giving fresh blood to a highly edited account that didn’t quite tell the full truth, and so reinforcing the myth. As there was no picture of the Horsham dragon imaginations flourished on reading the brief description.
Yet unbeknown to the people of Horsham, lying not 100 miles from the town, in the vaults of one of the world’s greatest libraries lay the truth. For the Bodleian Library in Oxford had the only known copy of the account of the ‘Dragon of St Leonard’s Forest’. The original 1614 account wasn’t just three or four pages long but 20 pages and, remarkably, included an original woodcut of the dragon. Even more devastating to the myth was that the original account specifically states that ‘the dragon’ was not a dragon at all, but a snake that “John Steele, Christopher Holder and a widow woman dwelling near Faygate “saw.
This remarkable discovery was made by the author researching a new history of the town. Now thanks to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Horsham Museum can republish the original account, an account that contains full classical references to other dragons, that shows this work was a fully considered, almost academic, account of a “strange and monstrous serpent”. As it was originally published in black letter, which to our eyes is almost incomprehensible, a full easy to read transcription has been made by the Museum, along with notes to put the story into its local context - and like all good stories this one has a twist in the tale.
And today’s “Dragons” would be especially pleased as the book is being republished in a limited edition of 250 copies with all profits going to the purchase fund of Horsham Museum.
With special permission of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University the woodcut image can be provided for press coverage, but only once as the image is copyrighted to Bodleian Library. Please email museum@horsham.gov.uk if you would like the image to be sent to you.
For further information please contact
Jeremy Knight, Curator.
Horsham Museum
9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HE
Tel: (01403) 254959 Fax: (01403) 282594
Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk
http://www.horshammuseum.org/
Exhibitions currently on display at Horsham Museum feature Scouting, The Abolition of Slavery and Hogarth - Up Close & Personal.