On Saturday, 26th July 2025, a new statue of Dan the Dog was unveiled by His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant Edward Harley CBE. It sits on the banks of the River Wye in Bishop’s Meadow and features regularly in our guided walks of the city!
Hereford Guild of Mayor’s Guides is proud to have made this possible by obtaining grant funding from Hereford City Council, Herefordshire Community Foundation and The Elmley Foundation, as well as contributing a significant sum from our own resources.
The new sculpture was carved by Saul Sheldon in the Stonemason’s Yard at
Hereford Cathedral, just a few metres from where Dan once lived, and replaces the original Dan sculpture installed in 2002. Carved in wood, the original had become damaged and rotten over time, due to weather and flooding. The original wooden sculpture has been saved from further deterioration and has been given a new home at the Herefordshire History Store.
Dan, the original bulldog, was a cherished companion of George Robertson Sinclair, the former organist of Hereford Cathedral. In 1898, on a walk along the River Wye with his great friend Sir Edward Elgar, Dan tumbled into the water — an event that left a lasting impression. Elgar’s famous Enigma Variations feature 14 movements, each inspired by a different friend. The 11th variation was dedicated to ‘GRS’, but was really about Dan, vividly capturing his fall, his energetic swim upstream, and his triumphant bark upon climbing out.
Elgar wrote many small musical cameos he called “The Moods of Dan Illustrated”
and entered them in Sinclair’s Visitors Book at 20, Church Street. These feature in
many of his other major works. The Visitors Book can be viewed by appointment in the Cathedral Library. The unveiling of the new statue appropriately took place on the first Saturday of the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford. Elgar was involved with the Festival from an early age, and some of his major works were premiered there.
As part of the project, the Guild of Mayor’s Guides engaged with Herefordshire
Primary schools by holding a competition for the children to make a drawing or
painting of Dan, creating a local heritage learning opportunity. There were 540
entries from 17 schools. Some of the winning children attended the ceremony, and afterwards received their prizes from the Mayor of Hereford at a reception at the Town Hall.
Here are the winning entries: 1st, 2nd and 3rd in three age groups plus an Overall
Best Entry.
Reception and Years 1 and 2 Group
Years 3 and 4 Group
Years 5 and 6 Group
Dan has become a well-loved riverside resident, and we are delighted that he can
continue to charm locals and visitors alike, for many years to come.