How These City Of London Dragon Boundary Markers Ended Up In The USA

Down by London Bridge, just off London Bridge Road, before you get to the London Bridge Shopping Centre, you'll find four City of London dragon boundary markers dotted about.

Nothing odd about that — London Bridge is, after all, at the edge of the City. Except these four dragons are desert dwellers, living in the Mojave Desert in Arizona, 5,400 miles from England's capital city, and they're replicas of our originals.

Their exact location is in Lake Havasu City on the Colorado River, which forms the border between Arizona and California. Ringing a vague bell? Lake Havasu City is the new(ish) home of the old London Bridge, which we keep an occasional eye on via a 24/7 webcam.

In 1967, American entrepreneur Robert P. Maculloch, who was developing the new Lake Havasu City as a resort town, bought most of the bridge as a way to draw tourists into the area. He had the 10,276 blocks dismantled and sent across the Atlantic individually. Rumour abounds that the American thought he was buying Tower Bridge — almost certainly an urban myth, as Travis Elborough dissects in his 2013 book on the subject.

Whatever the Lake Havasu residents thought of their new souvenir, they made an effort to make it feel at home. Its rebuild was completed in 1971, and the span was allowed to keep its name, London Bridge. Plus, they went and erected a full English Village in its honour, an open-air shopping area complete with film-set style shop fronts — designed, presumably, by someone who'd never actually set foot in England.

A red phone box was placed down by the river, in the shadow of London Bridge, and various plaques shout about the English links. The Hog in Armor Pub and City of London Arms Restaurant were among the businesses that once thrived there. And then of course, there are the replica dragons.

Sadly, the English Village has fallen by the wayside a bit, with parts of it torn down and the British theme abandoned. But those dragons still remain. They're fairly accurate replicas of our own — adopting the same upright stance, painted silver with red embellishments on the wings, tongue and shield — though the stateside dragons have red tails too.

Where exactly are the Lake Havasu dragons?

We have to admit, we've not been to Lake Havasu ourselves (apparently there's "not the budget for that, Laura"), though it sounds like somewhere we'd enjoy. Our dragon hunt, therefore, has been a virtual one, and via online sleuthing we've managed to locate three of the reported four beasts.

You'll find a pair of them either side of the small ornamental fountain, just inside the equally ornamental gates (once a part of Witley Court in Worcestershire) at the entrance to the English Village, if you approach it from the Holiday Inn car park.

A third dragon can be found alongside the north east corner of the bridge, right by the shoreline and close to that phone box and the Sunset Charter & Tour Co boat hire booth.

Unfortunately the fourth dragon — if indeed, there ever was a fourth — eludes us. Perhaps it's been removed, or maybe it never existed. It would surely have been fairly close to its kin, as they were used to mark the boundaries of the English Village, in the same way that our dragons mark the boundaries of the City of London.  If you know the whereabouts of the fourth dragon (a sentence we never thought we'd write...), do let us know in the comments.

What are the Lake Havasu dragons called?

We recently gave the City of London dragons names, all linked to their surroundings or history, so it's only right that we do the same for their cousins across the pond. So meet Robbie (named after bridge importer Robert P. Maculloch), the lone wolf dragon down by the shoreline, and Star and Stripe, the twin dragons flanking that fountain.

What else is there to do in mini London?

Other London-y locations nearby include London Bridge Beach, London Bridge Ice Cream Parlour, the London Bridge Resort, the London Barber Shop (haven't they heard of Sweeney Todd?) and — ugh — the London Bridge Firearms gun shop.

If you can't make it to Lake Havasu yourself, live vicariously through none other than Bradley Walsh. The very first episode of Breaking Dad, the road trip show he stars in alongside his son Barney, swings by Lake Havasu City — start watching S1E1 at about 26:30 to see Lake Havasu on screen.