Blue Ben — The Dragon of Kilve

If you wander along the rocky shoreline at Kilve, you are following in some BIG footsteps. Music and Robin Hood fans will of course know that Kilve is where Bryan Adams filmed part of the music video for 'Everything I Do'; but for fans of folklore, its also where ANOTHER Somerset dragon is said to have lived.

Legend says that Blue Ben, or 'Old Ben', was a ferocious fire-breathing dragon, who is said to have lived in a cave in the Putsham Hill area of Kilve. Despite his ferocity though, Ben would often bathe in the cool waters of the Bristol Channel near his cave, in order to 'cool off' after breathing so much fire. He wasn't 'all brawn and no brain' though. In order to ensure he didn't get stuck in the thick blue lias mud, whilst getting in and out of the water, Ben would build a large limestone causeway to walk across.

But, unlike Gurt Worm of the Quantock Hills...who just sat around eating sheep all day...Blue Ben had a job to do - to serve a greater monster: the devil himself.

He was forced to haul the devil’s chariot through the fires of hell. But Ben fled back to Somerset whenever he could, to try and cool his scorched body in the waters off Kilve. But one day, whilst scrambling back out of the waters, Ben slipped off of his causeway and became stuck in the mud....and slowly began to sink. A final wisp of smoke rising from his nostrils, as he disappeared beneath the mud forever.

Until, centuries later, fossil hunters uncovered the remains of a prehistoric sea creature in the cliffs — an ichthyosaur. Also known as a sea dragon. Could it be that they brought Blue Ben back to the surface after his long slumber?

Today, I understand that this particular Ichthyosaur fossil can be seen on display in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in Bristol. Correct me if I'm wrong, as there are a few Ichthyosaurs on display around the South West. But there's only one Blue Ben!