Lambton Worm

The Lambton Worm is a giant serpent of County Durham folklore, fished from the River Wear by young John Lambton, which grew huge, coiled around a hill, and could rejoin its body whenever it was cut apart.

The Story

The heir of the Lambton estate, a young man named John Lambton, skipped church one Sunday to go fishing in the River Wear. Instead of a fish he pulled up a small, ugly, eel-like creature. In many tellings an old man passing by warned him that no good would come of it. Lambton threw the thing into a well and forgot about it.

Years later, after Lambton had gone off to fight in the Crusades, the creature outgrew the well. It moved to the river and then to a nearby hill, which it wrapped in its coils (versions name either Worm Hill at Fatfield or Penshaw Hill). It ate sheep, sucked milk from cows, and carried off children. The villagers learned to keep it calm by filling a trough with the milk of nine cows every day. Knights who fought it found that any piece they cut off simply rejoined the body.

When Lambton came home he asked a wise woman for help. She told him to cover his armor with spear blades and fight the worm in the middle of the river. There was a price: after his victory he must kill the first living thing he met. Lambton fought the worm in the Wear, and as it squeezed him the blades sliced it apart, and the current swept the pieces away before they could join again. He had arranged for his father to release a hound when he blew his horn, but the old man, overjoyed, ran out himself. Lambton would not kill his father. He killed the dog instead, and the curse fell on the family: for nine generations no Lord of Lambton would die in his bed.

Appearance and Powers

The traditional sources call it simply a worm, an old word for a dragon or great serpent. It is usually pictured as legless and wingless, a monstrous eel or snake. Its signature power is regeneration, which is why it could only be beaten in running water.

Origins and Sources

The earliest written account is in William Hutchinson's history of Durham (vol. 2, 1787). He reported the tale as a local tradition; he had looked for earthworks that might show it remembered a band of Danish raiders, but found none. Robert Surtees placed the legend in the Lambton family history in his own history of Durham (1820). The curse of the nine generations was linked to real members of the family who died away from home, which helped keep the story alive.

Legacy

The tale became famous in north-east England through a comic song, "The Lambton Worm," written in 1867 and still sung in Geordie dialect. It has inspired pantomimes and children's books, and Bram Stoker's novel The Lair of the White Worm (1911) borrows from the region's worm legends. It is one of the best-known English "worm" legends, alongside the Sockburn and Laidly worms. For the wider family of English dragons, see Western dragons and types of dragons.

Related

• Sockburn Worm: The Sockburn Worm is a venomous dragon of County Durham legend, killed by Sir John Conyers with a falchion that is still presented to each new Bishop of Durham as the price of the Sockburn lands.
• Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh: The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh is a dragon of Northumbrian legend: Princess Margaret of Bamburgh, turned into a loathsome worm by her jealous stepmother and restored when her brother Childe Wynde kisses it three times.
• Linton Worm: The Linton Worm is a serpent-dragon of Scottish Borders legend that lived in a den on Linton Hill and was killed by a Somerville who thrust a burning, pitch-soaked peat on his lance into its throat.
• Stoorworm: The Stoorworm, or Mester Stoorworm, is a colossal sea serpent of Orkney folklore whose poisonous breath threatened the land until the boy Assipattle burned it from the inside, its teeth becoming Orkney, Shetland, and the Faroes.
• Western Dragons
• Dragon Types
• Dragon Legends

Sources and Further Reading

• William Hutchinson, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, vol. 2 (Newcastle, 1787)
• Robert Surtees, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, vol. 2 (London, 1820)
• Jacqueline Simpson, British Dragons (Batsford, 1980; Wordsworth, 2001)
• Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson, The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends (Penguin, 2005)

Cite this entry: “Lambton Worm,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/lambton-worm.