Dragons are Dinosaurs

Dragons are Dinosaurs Video

Ichthyosaur Fossil. Museum of Somerset. Taunton

As a creationist I do not believe in the theory of evolution. The theory requires millions of years for animals to evolve and it claims that dinosaurs were creatures that existed hundreds of millions of years ago.

Dinosaurs are actually exactly the same creatures that we know as dragons. It was only in the nineteenth century that the word “dinosaur”was invented to explain the fossils of dragons that were being found.

Almost every culture in the world has stories of dragons. Some countries even have them on their flags. However we are led to believe that dragons never existed. Instead of trying to examine the history of dragons all over the world I will just look at their history in my local area. Specifically, I will look at the County of Somerset which has a Wyvern (a two legged dragon) on its coat of arms.

Coat of Arms of Somerset Featuring a Wyvern Dragon

We are still fascinated with Dragons. I recently walked around Taunton, the County Town of Somerset, and took random pictures of dragon/dinosaur related things as I was walking around.

Dragon Carving in Taunton High Street

Dragon Games in Taunton Book Shop

Taunton Dragon Trail

Dinosaur Puzzle

This is one of the earliest representations of a dragon slaying in Britain.The Church of St Mary the Virgin at East Stoke in Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, England dates from the 12th century.

Somerset at one time was famous for its dragons. Here are ten places in Somerset that have dragon legends. Here is a list from the website "Off the Beaten Track in Somerset".

Norton Fitzwarren: a dragon lived on the Iron Age hillfort and was killed by a local man called Fulk Fitzwarin
Carhampton: a Celtic saint named St Carantoc defeated a dragon which lived on the marshes.
Bicknoller: there is a legend that a dying dragon will try and reach the sea, which is why there is a Dragon's Cross at Bilbrook.
Shervage Wood: the Gurt Wurm or Great Worm was cut in half by a woodman from Stogumber. One part ran to Bilbrook and the other to Kingston St Mary.
Kingston St Mary: a dragon lived nearby and breathed out flames, which it used to cook its animal and human victims. A villager rolled a large stone down a hill into its mouth and killed it.
Churchstanton: a dragon was slain by a valiant knight.
Castle Neroche: a dragon stole treasure from passing travellers but it was eventually drowned by local villagers.
Aller: there are several versions of the story. One is that John Aller killed a dragon with a spear.
Dulcote: a dragon with the face of a woman was terrorising the area. It was slain with a sacred sword from Glastonbury by Bishop Jocelyn of Wells.
Kilve: a dragon called Blue Ben went into the sea to cool off but got stuck in the mud and drowned when the tide came in.

In fact, the churches of Somerset are littered with carvings of dragons, in the stonework and also on the pews.

So, Somerset has always had a connection with dragons. Interestingly it has also been an outstanding area for dinosaur fossils, particularly those known as “Sea Dragons”. The point I am making is that there are a lot of dragon stories in Somerset because there were a lot of “dinosaurs” in Somerset.This brings us to the story of Blue Ben.

The legend is that a dragon used to live at Kilve on the north coast of Somerset. There are many versions of the legend but basically the story is that this fire breathing dragon lived in caves and built a causeway across the mudflats to the sea so that he could cool off. Unfortunately Blue Ben was chosen by the devil as his steed. Blue Ben did not enjoy this role and in his desperation to escape back to his cave he became stuck in the mud and drowned.

Picture of Dragon from Medieval Bestiary. Dragon Harley MS 3244.png. From Wikipedia.

The interesting point is that this legend came from an area well known for fossils. The fossilised skull of an Ichthyosaur was discovered in the area and many fossils of both Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs, known as “Sea Dragons” have been found in Somerset.

So we have an area both rich in dragon legends and dinosaur fossils. To me there is a clear connection between the two. In my mind the villagers of Kilve saw a sea dragon (or Ichthyosaur) dead in the mud and the legend grew around it. There are many accounts of dragon sightings in medieval times and they were included in medieval bestiaries along with other animals that we are more familiar with today.

Ichthyosaur skull. Museum of Somerset. Taunton

Dragons are Dinosaurs Part 2

Dragons are Dinosaurs Part 2. Video

Plesiosaur Fossil. Museum of Somerset. Taunton

Page from a booklet called Nature in Somerset published by the Somerset Wildlife Trust

Somerset is full of “Sea Dragon” fossils. If you read the normal history of the area it will tell you something like the following: -

“two hundred million years ago, during the early Jurassic period of geological time, much of Somerset was covered by a warm shallow sea.”

As a creationist I do not agree with this interpretation. However much of Somerset was either underwater or boggy marsh in the past, before the land was drained. This made it an ideal habitat for dragons. Dragons were better suited to life before the Flood. The climate was more temperate and the Oxygen content of the atmosphere was higher. After the Flood of Noah life became harsher and Dragons struggled to support their own body weight and maintain their body temperature. Boggy, marshy places were ideal for them as they could hide in the rushes and float in the water, only coming on to land when they needed to.

The Leviathan in the bible is clearly some sort of dragon, as it breathes fire from its mouth and nostrils

[Job 41:19-21 KJV] 19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap out. 20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as [out] of a seething pot or caldron. 21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

It is also a sea creature, unlike the Behemoth mentioned in Job 41 which is a land creature.

[Job 41:31-32 ESV] 31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.

This 12th Century picture from medieval encyclopedia known as the Book of Flowers clearly depicts the Leviathan in water.

The Antichrist sitting on the Leviathan. From the Liber Floridus ("Book of Flowers"). A medieval encyclopedia that was compiled between 1090 and 1120 by Lambert, Canon of Saint-Omer. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Remember that depictions of dragons in medieval times were regarded as illustrations of living creatures. There are some similarities between the picture of the Leviathan and fossils of Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs. For instance the long snout, the long tail and sharp teeth.

It is interesting how the bible account of the Leviathan ties up with the Somerset legends. there is a legend that a dying dragon will try and reach the sea, which is why there is a Dragon's Cross at Bilbrook in Somerset. Also the dragons of the legends of Norton Fitzwarren and Kingston St Mary both breathed fire just as the Leviathan did.

The theory of evolution would have us believe that life on earth has, for some reason, developed from simple organisms to advanced ones over billions of years. In fact the reverse is true. Life on earth has been deteriorating since the time of creation and in particular since the Flood.

An Ichthyosaur fossil. Museum of Somerset. Taunton

When I look around the local museums I can see how amazing life must have been thousands of years ago. The plants and animals were larger and more developed than they are now.

Ammonites were marine animals that are now extinct. The largest one in the picture is a Titanites Giganteus. It is incomplete. Imagine how large it would have been with a body and long tentacles.

As we get nearer to the end more and more creatures are dying out. The bible tells us that the earth is staggering under the weight of our sins

[Isa 24:20 KJV] 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

Ammonites on show at the Museum of Somerset. Taunton.

Fossils are everywhere, all over the planet. Deposited in the earth as a result of the Flood. They are not hard to find. They are God’s witness to his creation and the great cataclysm that destroyed life on earth as a result of the wickedness that had overcome the world. I found this fossil of a leaf just walking along a beach in Somerset.

The only land creatures that survived the flood were those that Noah took on the ark. The Ark is a picture of Jesus. If we accept him then we are saved by the love of God from the wrath that is to come.

I saw this imprint of what I think is a leaf on a stone on a beach in Somerset.