John Lambton
Don’t be fooled by the name: the Lambton Worm was a large and fearsome beast. The noun ‘worm’ in this instance is an archaic name for a legless dragon which derives from the Old English wyrm (‘serpent; dragon’). The tale takes place in Lambton, County Durham, UK, and centres on the now-dismantled manor house of the Lambton family. It all began when John Lambton was fishing in the River Wear ‘on a Sunday, [and] hooked a small worm or eft [newt], which he carelessly threw into a well’ (Robert Surtees, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham).
Much like Thora’s lindworms and Jörmungandr, the Lambton worm soon grew to a terrible size. Now too big for the well, the worm moved to the river where it spent the day coiled around a crag or a nearby hill around which it wrapped itself nine times, leaving deep grooves in the hillside. ‘It now became the terror of the country, and amongst other enormities levied a contribution of nine cows’ milk… in default of which it devoured man and beast’. John Lambton, in the meantime, had given up his youthful degeneracy and was in Jerusalem fighting on a Crusade.
Upon returning from the Holy Land, John Lambton learned of the worm, and blamed himself for the deed, having caught it whilst fishing on Sabbath day when he should have been at Church. After several failed attempts to kill the worm, Lambton consulted a local witch, who instructed him to arm himself with a suit of armour studded with razorblades. John waited on the crag in the unusual armor, and when the worm arrived he allowed it to encircle him. Yet, as it did so, the Lambton Worm cut itself into pieces, and was washed away by the River Wear.
The story does not end here, however. John had promised the witch that he would kill the first living thing he saw after the victory. He blew his hunting horn to summon his favorite greyhound, with the intention of slaying it but, unfortunately, it was his overjoyed father who arrived first. Refusing to commit parricide, John returned to the witch, who informed him that no head of the Lambton family should die in his bed for 7 generations. This was a small price to pay, however, since the Lambtons were all soldiers, and rather keen to die gloriously in battle.
