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Question
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I have heard that the Green Dragon in Alderbury was the original of the Blue Dragon in Charles Dickens's 'Martin Chuzzlewit'. Is this true?
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Question asked on
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04 July 2011
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Answer
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No one knows this for certain and there are two claimants for this honour. Both the George at Amesbury and the Green Dragon have been put forward as the originals for the Blue Dragon. Dickens always modelled his inns on real ones, although he changed the names, and he provides quite good descriptions of the Blue Dragon, its situation and how to reach Salisbury from it. Those descriptions do favour the George although not everything is right. It is known that Dickens visited Alderbury and he could have enjoyed refreshment at the Green Dragon. In 'Martin Chuzzlewit' there is a bandy legged tailor mentioned in the village of the Blue Dragon and there really was a bandy legged tailor in Alderbury at that time. It could be that Dickens used the George at Amesbury as his model but took some features, including part of the inn name, from Alderbury.
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Bibliography
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Alderbury and Whaddon; a Millennium Mosaic of People, Places and Progress, by the Alderbury & Whaddon Local History Research Group. 2000, 0 9538004 0 7
