Welsh Dragon

The Welsh Dragon is a symbol of Wales and appears on the national flag of Wales. It has been used as an emblem since the reign of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd from around 655AD. The red dragon is said to have appeared in the ancient Mabinogion story of Lludd and Llefelys, where it was confined, battling with an invading white dragon, at Dinas Emrys. The story continues in the Historia Brittonum, written around AD 829, where Gwrtheyrn, King of the Britons is frustrated in attempts to build a fort at Dinas Emrys. He is told by a boy Emrys, to dig up two dragons fighting beneath the castle. He discovers the white dragon representing the Anglo-Saxons, which is soon to be defeated by the red dragon of the Wales.