Painting by Sue Cordingley

“Once upon a time, there was a little boy called Ted… he wanted to meet a dragon.”

Well, luckily for Ted and as you may already know – dragons live in the observatory at the top of Wainhouse Tower. Through a series of events depicted in the children’s book ‘The Dragons of Wainhouse Tower’, written by Sarah Stone and illustrated by Sue Cordingley, late one summer Ted’s wish to meet a dragon comes true, as he encounters one in need of help in the undergrowth at the base of the Tower.

You’ll have to read the rest of the story for yourself to discover what help the dragon needs, what the dragons of Wainhouse Tower do (it’s a very important job!) and what happens to young Ted as he befriends them.

During Calderdale’s ‘CultureDale’ Year of Culture celebrations held in 2024. Many children, family members and friends got to find out for themselves as they attended crafting and story time sessions at King Cross Library, with Sarah Stone and Sue Cordingley. Children drew their own dragons, made dragon puppets, listened to the story read by its creators and then got to visit Wainhouse Tower for themselves.

At the Tower there was a hunt to find dragon eggs in the undergrowth, followed by an introduction and dragon-themed cry from Halifax’s own Town Crier Les Cutts, before children ascended the spiral staircase to the top of the Tower, where they may have spotted small signs that the dragons live there, such as spotty blankets and jars of hot chocolate, plus much more obvious evidence in the form of… well that’d be telling. Let’s just say that thereby ‘hangs a tail.’

Ted and the Dragons of Wainhouse Tower return in a second story ‘The Dragons of Wainhouse Tower and the Great Butterfly Conundrum’, where Ted becomes concerned about the part of the dragon’s diet that allows them to breathe fire and a serious, but still fun, message about conservation is conveyed for youngsters to enjoy.

You can read more about the Dragons of Wainhouse Tower and buy your copies of both books from the Dragons of Wainhouse Tower website here.

And you will find the other blog posts in our series celebrating Wainhouse Tower’s 150th anniversary below:

• The Sesquicentennial Story of Wainhouse Tower
• The Tower of Spite  – The Feud Between Wainhouse and Sir Henry Edwards
• The Dragons of Wainhouse Tower
• Doctor Who and the Tower of Spite

#WainhouseTower150 #Visitcalderdale