Here be dragons

There are a few of these lamp-posts in St Mary's churchyard with the lamp suspended from the tail of a curled up dragon, I can't imagine that the dragons have any ecclesiatical significance.

The following quotion refers to one of these that is a listed building in Trafalgar Street; "Lamp post. First lit 6 February 1897. Probably designed by the
Borough Engineer, Joseph Hall and cast by Messrs McDowell, Stevens and Company Ltd, London and Glasgow. Cast-iron. Bollard with half-bollards with shields and the town's motto 'Salubritas et Eruditio'. Arched lamp-holder and dragon infill with crowning onion finial. Intended for electricity and thus an early and remarkably elaborate example of its type.
HISTORICAL NOTE: cost »9.15s.0d. The motif is taken from the coat of arms of the borough, granted to the town 11 years after its incorporation in 1876.
There are other examples of the type in Cambray Place (qv), St Mary's Churchyard, Church Street (qv), Regent Street (qv) and Trafalgar Street (qv).
(Chatwin A: Cheltenham's Ornamental Ironwork: Cheltenham:
1975-1984: 67). "