If you go down to South London today, you could be in for a great surprise. Because amongst the greenery of Crystal Palace Park are 33 statues of prehistoric animals, the first of their kind to be erected anywhere in the world.
Not that they look that much like prehistoric creatures as we know them today. The three dinosaur species represented - Megalosaurus, Hylaeosaurus and a pair of Iguanodon - look for all the world like overgrown lizards. Not only that, but in the case of the Iguanodons, the animals sport nose horns - the appendages in question would later be discovered to be thumb bones.
Such errors are just part of the charm of these life-size likenesses. As for their historical importance, it's so great that the collection's been granted Grade I listed building status. This is fair enough since the figures date back to 1852.
They were constructed by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, who'd previously been the assistant superintendent of the Great Exhibition. With the immense glass house due to be relocated from Hyde Park to a part of South London that would become known as Crystal Palace, Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to construct a menagerie of prehistoric creatures.
The beasts in question were to include Megatherium (a giant ground sloth), Megaloceros (otherwise, erroneously, known as 'The Irish Elk'), Icthyosaurs (the fish-like reptiles that populated the Jurassic and Cretaceous seas) and the aforementioned dinosaur species. The artist was helped in his task by Richard Owen, founder of the Natural History Museum and the man who coined the phrase 'dinosaur'.
The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs - as they were collectively, if incorrectly, known - were one of the sensations of their day. The Iguanodons proved particularly popular and pictures circulated in the press of the dinner for 22 guests that was held within the cast of one of the creatures. They and the other beasts were such a huge hit that Waterhouse Hawkins was summed to New York.
Once in the Big Apple, he became the first person to mount a dinosaur skeleton (stop that). He was also commissioned to build a display to rival his Crystal Palace creation in Central Park, but alas, as work on the project neared completion, the statues were smashed on the command of local politician William 'Boss' Tweed (coincidentally the character Jim Broadbent plays in Martin Scorsese's Gangs Of New York).
The figures in Crystal Palace are then the only surviving examples of Waterhouse Hawkins' work. Despite the best efforts of volunteers and a not-inconsiderable Lottery grant, the statues have certainly seen better days. Once seen, however, they're never forgotten. And if there weren't already enough good reasons for visiting the area - the children's farm, the charming, wildlife-friendly lake, the nearby Horinman Museum - who can resist the notion that, in this leafy part of South London, thar be dragons?