Town welcomes return of historical dragon parade

A parade thought to have begun in the Middle Ages has returned to a town, featuring a 45-metre dragon.

The Burford Dragon Parade made its way down the town's High Street on Sunday, with the dragon created by local children.

Hundreds of people attended the event, which is believed to have originated in AD572 and was last held in the 1970s.

The day also saw a 'Living History Village' demonstrating Anglo-Saxon crafts, a school fete and jazz performances by Burford School.

Organisers said the tradition began when the victorious King of Mercia marched through Burford carrying the defeated King of Wessex' banner with a golden dragon.

The dragon itself was made with papier-mache and cloth, and built by children from Burford Primary School.

Executive head teacher Rachel Veeder said: "It was absolutely amazing... the whole town stopped still and I've never seen so many people in Burford".

Michael Taubenheim, who attended the parade as a child in the 1970s, said he hoped the children's involvement would continue.

"The youngsters will hopefully grow it now," he said, "and one day bring their children".

Others who attended welcomed the change of scenery for Burford High Street, which experiences high volumes of tourism-related traffic.

Resident Beatrice said: "We love our visitors, and they're very important to this community.

"But occassionally its nice to have something that's about Burford and its children... everthing shuts down and its about them for a bit".

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