The Dragon of Wantley has been seen snaking across the hill above the Ewden Valley, telling the story of the knight of Moor Hall, slaying a monstrous dragon on the Wharncliffe Crags.
Installed more than 15 years ago, the original wooden sculpture had deteriorated and become rotten, so a new carved stone head has been created for the Dragon in order to preserve the historic monument.
Tom Newman, General Manager of the Steel Valley Project charity said: “The old sculpture was falling into disrepair and we didn’t want to see it just disappear.
“We applied to Stocksbridge Town Council and Sheffield City Council and they both match funded the project to enable it to come to fruition.”
School children from local primary school Wharncliffe Side, whose logo depicts the Dragon, visited Stoneface Creative to see the stone carving process in action.
Now complete, the sculpture has been installed on site.
Mr Newman said: “We’re getting our volunteers to go out and create this new wildflower meadow, planting red, orange and yellow flowers to make it look like the Dragon is breathing fire. That will be great to see when it comes into bloom later in the year.”
Steel Valley Project has also planned a guided walk later in the year, to showcase the new sculpture, inspire the local community and keep the legend of the Dragon alive for future generations.
Miriam Cates MP helped with campaigning after calls from the local community and was a driving force behind getting some momentum behind the project and securing funding from the local councils.
Mr Newman said: “We’ve had a great response from the local community. The pictures we’ve shared on social media have been really well received – people have been really positive about the fact that it’s been restored, as they were worried that it would be lost because it was in a poor state of repair.
“I think people are quite heartened to see that it has been reinstated because it’s an important part of local history.”
The story tells of how a huge dragon, as big as a trojan horse, devoured anything and everything it wished, until knight Moore of Moore Hall obtains a suit of spiked Sheffield armour and delivers a fatal kick to the dragon’s only vulnerable spot.
