Welcome to the City of London!

All the major routes into the “Square Mile” are marked with the main heraldic figure from the coat of arms of the City of London, the Tudor Red Dragon of Cadwaladr.

The grandest figure is at the site of the old Temple Bar in Fleet Street (top left and right). The sentinels on Holborn at Chancery Lane are smaller but also stand on stone plinths (bottom left and right). The others that I have photographed so far stand on smaller and more uniform columns painted in the City’s colours of black, white and red. They are often difficult to pick out amongst the clutter of street “furniture”.

At first I struggled to find them, having only a hazy idea of where the City’s boundaries are. But I quickly noticed that the City of London is heavily “branded”: every road sign, bollard, and rubbish bin is in the city colours and emblazons the coat of arms.