St George’s Day.
At the junction of Whitehill Road and St John’s Road at the top of Hollow Lane, is a house that has an absolutely wonderful roof finial in the shape of a dragon. Today being St. George’s Day (April 23rd), I thought the dragon finial would tie in nicely with the story of St. George and The Dragon. (http://tinyurl.com/2v6vfa)
As well as being the patron saint of England, St George is also the patron saint of Armenia, Georgia, Greece, Ethiopia, Palestine and Russia. Pretty good going for a man who was born in Lydda – Modern day Lod in Israel (but was Palestine before Israel invaded) and lived in Nicomedia – The once capital of Bithynia (part of Modern day Anatolia in Turkey)
It has been suggested that perhaps England could have an English martyr for its patron saint, such as St Oswald – King of Bernicia (north part of Northumbria) or even a British saint such as St Alban who was martyred at Verulamium (St.Albans) rather than a foreign imported saint. Who knows, but until then, we have St. George.