Buffs Military Badge, Canterbury

General Information

National Grid Ref TR 158 585

The dragon was cut onto the turf bullet bank at the end of a rifle range at the Canterbury Buff Regimental depot.

History.

The dragon was cut in outline only in 1922 (before October) presumably by soldiers of the Buff regiment. It was designed by C.S.M Oliver Mason and was 51’ long by 47’ high. The design was a good likeness of the Regimental emblem (Royal East Kent Regiment) and was constructed by filling a trench with two and a half tons of chalk. The dragon figure was covered with earth during the war (1939-1945) and after the war picked out again. The dragon was lost with the abolishment of the Regimental depots in 1958, The hill on which it stood was bulldozed and landscaped for officers quarters.

Map

Reproduction of a 1:10,000 Local Map (1907) (Found in Canterbury Library Ref 46.3)

Photo's

Aerial Photo of the site in 1950s

Reproduced with the Permission of Kent Messenger Group Newspapers

References

(1922) Some Dragon. The Dragon (The Buffs Regimental Magazine) 275, 339.
Bergamar, K. (1986) Discovering Hill Figures. 3rd edn. Princes Risborough: Shire. 19.
Maples, M. (1981) White Horses and Other Hill Figures. 2nd edn. Stroud: Alan Sutton. 207,216.
Newman, P. (1987) Gods and Graven Images: The Chalk Hill-Figures of Britain. 2nd edn. London: Robert Hale. 197-198.
Newman, P. (1997) Lost Gods of Albion. 2nd edn. Stroud: Alan Sutton. 199.
Bergamar, K. (1968) Discovering Hill Figures. 1st edn. Princes Risborough: Shire. 23.
Bergamar, K. (1997) Discovering Hill Figures. 4th edn. Princes Risborough: Shire. 31-32.
Sparks, M. (1980) The Parish of St Martin and St Paul, Canterbury. Historical Essays in Memory of James Hobbs. 1st edn. Canterbury. The Friends of St Martin. 100.