{"id":399347,"date":"2025-09-05T07:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T07:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/399347\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T07:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T07:06:12","slug":"taunton-dragon-statue-vandalised-with-limbs-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/399347\/","title":{"rendered":"Taunton dragon statue vandalised with limbs missing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The Taunton dragon statue located in the High Street is currently missing multiple limbs including an arm, ear, its tongue and some claws.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The 13ft (4m) weathered sculpture, which was commissioned by the former Somerset West and Taunton (SWT) Council at a total cost of \u00a315,000, was created by local chainsaw artist\u00a0Matthew Crabb and unveiled in 2023.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  At the time of the unveiling, SWT\u2019s executive member for culture, Cllr Caroline Ellis, said that the sculpture was \u201cmade of incredibly durable cedar\u201d and would \u201cdelight and inspire us for decades to come.\u201d \u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The inspiration for the sculpture derived from Somerset\u2019s association with the dragon, which features on the county flag as a traditional emblem of the county.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"Photos of the Taunton dragon.\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Photos of the Taunton dragon. (Image: Molly Kirk)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk\/news\/25109506.taunton-dragon-fenced-off-visible-damage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taunton Dragon fenced off over visible damage to wing<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE:<strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk\/news\/24110660.taunton-celebrates-first-anniversary-dragon-sculpture\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taunton celebrates first anniversary of Dragon sculpture<\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE:<strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk\/news\/24115016.residents-mixed-taunton-dragon-sculpture-one-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Residents mixed on Taunton dragon sculpture one year on<\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cy8j886nj7do\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BBC<\/a>, Somerset Council believe the sculpture was recently vandalised.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  When approached by the County Gazette for comment, Somerset Council said they are reviewing the best course of action regarding repairs and how to prevent this occurring again in future.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A Somerset Council spokesperson said: \u201cSomerset Council is currently reviewing the best course of action with regard to repairs and protecting it from further damage in the future.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cRepairs will be carried out when we have determined how we can ensure the continued protection of the sculpture which has become a much-loved part of Taunton\u2019s town centre.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Taunton dragon statue located in the High Street is currently missing multiple limbs including an arm, ear,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-399347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115150427452225993","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}