Lambton Worm
Encyclopedia
The Lambton Worm is a legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
from North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
in the UK. The story takes place around the River Wear
River Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
, and is one of the area's most famous pieces of folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, having been adapted from written and oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
into pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
and song formats.
The legend
The story revolves around John Lambton, an heir of the LambtonLambton, Tyne and Wear
Lambton is a village in Washington, Tyne and Wear, North East, England. It lies about northeast of Chester-le-Street. It is historically linked to the Lambton family, Lambton Castle and being the home of the Lambton Worm....
Estate, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, and his battle with a giant worm
Wyrm
Wyrm , or wurm, is the Old English term for a dragon or a dragon-like creature, especially one that is serpentine. It is used as an archaism in English folklore and modern fantasy to distinguish it from its Modern English counterpart worm...
(dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
) which had been terrorising the local villages. As with most myths, details of the story change with each telling.
Origin of the worm
The story states that the young John Lambton was a rebellious character who missed church one Sunday to go fishing in the River WearRiver Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
. In many versions of the story, while walking to the river, or setting up his equipment, John receives warnings from an old man that no good can come from missing church.
John Lambton does not catch anything until the time the church service finishes, at which point he fishes out a small eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
- or lamprey
Lamprey
Lampreys are a family of jawless fish, whose adults are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Translated from an admixture of Latin and Greek, lamprey means stone lickers...
-like creature with nine holes on each side of its salamander
Salamander
Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
-like head. Depending on the version of the story the worm is no bigger than a thumb, or about 3 feet long. In some renditions it has legs, while in others it is said to more closely resemble a snake.
At this point the old man returns, although in some versions it is a different character. John declares that he has caught the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
and decides to dispose of his catch by discarding it down a nearby well. The old man then issues further warnings about the nature of the beast.
John then forgets about the creature and eventually grows up. As a penance for his rebellious early years he joins the crusades.
The worm's wrath
Eventually the worm grows extremely large and the well becomes poisonous. The villagers start to notice livestock going missing and discover that the fully-grown worm has emerged from the well and coiled itself around a local hill.In some versions of the story the hill is Penshaw
Penshaw
The village of Penshaw , formerly known as Painshaw or Pensher, is an area of the metropolitan district of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England...
Hill, that on which the Penshaw Monument
Penshaw Monument
Penshaw Monument is a folly built in 1844 on Penshaw Hill between the districts of Washington and Houghton-le-Spring, within the City of Sunderland, North East England...
now stands, but locally the credit goes to the nearby Worm Hill, in Fatfield
Fatfield
Fatfield is a village in Tyne and Wear, located in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough, England. It formed part of the Washington new town....
. In most versions of the story the worm is large enough to wrap itself around the hill 7 times. It is said that one can still see the marks of the worm on Worm Hill.
The worm terrorises the nearby villages, eating sheep, preventing cows from producing milk and snatching away small children. It then heads towards Lambton Castle
Lambton Castle
Lambton Castle, located in County Durham, England, between the towns of Washington and Chester-le-Street, is a stately home, the ancestral seat of the Lambton family, the Earls of Durham...
where the Lord (John Lambton's aged father) manages to sedate the creature in what becomes a daily ritual of offering the worm milk of nine good cows, twenty gallons, or a filled wooden/stone trough.
A number of brave villagers try to kill the beast but are quickly dispatched. When a chunk is cut off the worm it simply reattaches the missing piece. Visiting knights also try to assault the beast but none survive. When annoyed the worm would uproot trees by coiling its tail around them. It then created devastation by waving around the uprooted trees like a club.
The vanquishing of the worm
After seven years John Lambton returns from the crusade to find his father's estates almost destitute because of the worm. John decides to fight it but first seeks the guidance of a wise woman or witch near DurhamDurham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
.
The witch hardens John's resolve to kill the beast by explaining his responsibility for the worm. She tells him to cover his armour
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
in spearheads and fight the worm in the River Wear, where it now spends its days wrapped around a great rock. The witch also tells John that after killing the worm he must then kill the first living thing he sees, or else his family will be cursed for nine generations and will not die in their beds.
John prepares his armour according to the witch's instructions and arranges with his father that when he has killed the worm he will sound his hunting horn three times. On this signal his father is to release his favourite hound so that it will run to John, who can then kill the dog and thus avoid the curse.
John Lambton then fights the worm by the river. The worm tries to crush him, wrapping him in its coils, but it cuts itself on his armour's spikes. As pieces of the worm are chopped off they are washed away by the river, preventing the worm from healing itself. Eventually the worm is dead and John sounds his hunting horn three times.
The Lambton curse
Unfortunately, John's father is so excited that the beast is dead that he forgets to release the hound and rushes out to congratulate his son. John cannot bear to kill his father and so, after they meet, the hound is released and dutifully dispatched. But it is too late and nine generations of Lambtons are cursed so they shall not die peacefully in their beds.That is how the story ends.This curse seems to have held true for at least three generations, possibly helping to contribute to the popularity of the story.
- 1st generation: Robert Lambton, drowned at Newrig.
- 2nd: Sir William Lambton, a Colonel of Foot, killed at Marston Moor.
- 3rd: William Lambton, died in battle at WakefieldWakefieldWakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
. - 9th: Henry Lambton, died in his carriage crossing Lambton Bridge on June 26, 1761.
(General Lambton, Henry Lambton's brother, is said to have kept a horse whip by his bedside to ward off violent assaults. He died in his bed at an old age.)
The song
The story was made into a song (RoudRoud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
#2337), written in 1867 by C.M. Leumane (it has now passed into oral tradition and has several slightly different variants). The dialect is most effective when sung in a regional Mackem
Mackem
Mackem is a term that refers to the accent, dialect and people of the Wearside area, or more specifically Sunderland, a city in North East England. Spelling variations include "Mak'em", "Makem", and "Maccam".- Origin :...
accent.
(There are several words in the song which readers unfamiliar with the local dialect may not understand. They are picked out in bold type and translated at the end of the relevant line.)
| One Sunda morn young Lambton went | |
| A-fishing in the Wear; | |
| An' catched a fish upon he's heuk | (=caught) (=his hook) |
| He thowt leuk't vary queer. | (=thought looked very strange) |
| But whatt'n a kind ov fish it was | (=what kind of) |
| Young Lambton cudden't tell- | |
| He waddn't fash te carry'd hyem, | (=could not be bothered to carry it home) |
| So he hoyed it doon a well | (=threw it down) |
| Chorus | |
| Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs, | (=Be quiet, boys, shut your mouths) |
| An' aa'll tell ye aall an aaful story, | (=I'll tell you all an awful) |
| Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs, | |
| An' Aa'll tel ye 'boot the worm. | (=about) |
| Noo Lambton felt inclined te gan | (=go) |
| An' fight i' foreign wars. | |
| He joined a troop ov Knights that cared | |
| For nowther woonds nor scars, | (=neither wounds) |
| An' off he went te Palestine | |
| Where queer things him befel, | |
| An varry seun forgat aboot | (=very soon forgot about) |
| The queer worm i' tha well. | |
| But the worm got fat an' grewed an' grewed, | |
| An' grewed an aaful size; | |
| He'd greet big teeth, a greet big gob, | |
| An greet big goggly eyes. | |
| An' when at neets he craaled aboot | (=nights) (=crawled around) |
| Te pick up bits o' news, | |
| If he felt dry upon the road, | |
| He'd milk a dozen coos. | (=cows) |
| This feorful worm would often feed | (=fearful) |
| On caalves an' lambs an' sheep, | |
| An' swally little bairns alive | (=swallow) (=children) |
| When they laid doon te sleep. | |
| An when he'd eaten aall he cud | (=all he could) |
| An' he had had he's fill, | |
| He craaled away an' lapped he's tail | (=wrapped) |
| Ten times roond Pensha Hill. | |
| The news ov this myest aaful worm | (=most) |
| An' his queer gannins on | (=goings-on) |
| Seun crossed the seas, gat te the ears | (=soon) (=got to) |
| Ov brave an' bowld Sor John. | |
| So hyem he cam an' catched the beast, | (=home he came and caught) |
| An' cut 'im in twe haalves, | (=cut him in two halves) |
| An' that seun stopped hes eatin' bairns | |
| An' sheep an' lambs an' caalves. | |
| So noo ye knaa hoo aall the foaks | (=now you know how all the folk) |
| On byeth sides ov the Wear | (=both) |
| Lost lots o' sheep an' lots o' sleep | |
| An leeved i' mortal feor. | (=And lived in mortal fear) |
| So let's hev one te brave Sor John | (=let's drink to brave Sir John) |
| That kept the bairns frae harm, | (=from) |
| Saved coos an' calves by myekin' haalves | (=making halves) |
| O' the famis Lambton Worm. | (=famous) |
You can listen to the song here http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/english/Lambton/default.htm and stream it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9m438FavT0
Book
Bram Stoker'sBram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
1911 novel The Lair of the White Worm draws heavily on the Lambton Worm legend.
This myth, along with many others originating from the North East, is retold in the graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
Alice in Sunderland
Alice in Sunderland
Alice in Sunderland: An Entertainment is a graphic novel by comics writer and artist Bryan Talbot. It explores the links between Lewis Carroll and the Sunderland area, with wider themes of history, myth and storytelling — and the truth about what happened to Sid James on stage at the Sunderland...
by Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot is a British comic book artist and writer, born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1952. He is best known as the creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire.-Career:...
.
Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith (cartoonist)
Jeff Smith is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the self-published comic book series Bone. His current series, RASL, focuses on an art thief who hops through dimensional barriers, hiding out on various parallel worlds.-Early life and education:Jeff Smith was born in McKees...
's graphic novel Rose
Rose (comics)
Rose is a prequel to the Eisner-winning comic book Bone. It was written by Bone creator Jeff Smith and illustrated by Charles Vess, who earned an Eisner nomination for his work on it...
has the title character following the same instructions to overcome a dragon.
The Lambton Worm legend, including the subsequent death of Henry Lambton, is referred to in Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...
's novel Mason and Dixon; typically, given the themes of mythology and historiography within the novel, Pynchon alters some details of the legend (for instance, moving the location of the 'wise woman' and advice given to John Lambton on how to defeat the worm to Transylvania).
A version of the tale was published by Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs was a folklorist, literary critic and historian. His works included contributions to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, translations of European works, and critical editions of early English literature...
, using William Henderson's text in Folk-Lore of Northern Counties as a source.
Opera
"The Lambton Worm" (1978) is an operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in two acts by the composer Robert Sherlaw Johnson
Robert Sherlaw Johnson
Robert Sherlaw Johnson , was a British composer, pianist and music scholar. Sherlaw Johnson was one of that group of post-war British musicians whose work reflected wider European interests in new ideas, techniques and aesthetics...
with a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by the Oxford poet Anne Ridler
Anne Ridler
Anne Barbara Ridler OBE was a British poet, and Faber and Faber editor, selecting the Faber A Little Book of Modern Verse with T. S. Eliot . Her Collected Poems were published in 1994...
. There are eleven solo roles (four of them major), a chorus and orchestra.
Film
The 1988 film The Lair of the White WormThe Lair of the White Worm (film)
The Lair of the White Worm is a 1988 film based loosely on the novel by Bram Stoker of the same name and drawing upon the English myth of the Lambton Worm...
is based on Stoker's novel. Leumane's song is recast in the film as the "Dampton Worm", performed by Emilio Perez Machado and Stephan Powys.
See also
- English folkloreEnglish folkloreEnglish folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in England over a number of centuries. Some stories can be traced back to their roots, while the origin of others is uncertain or disputed...
- JabberwockyJabberwocky"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
- Sockburn WormSockburn WormIn the folklore of Northumbria, the Sockburn Worm was a ferocious wyvern that laid waste to the village of Sockburn in Durham. It was said that the beast was finally slain by John Conyers....
- The Linton WormWorm of LintonThe Linton Worm is a mythical beast referred to in a Scottish borders legend dating back to the 12th century. "Wyrm" is the Old English for serpent...
- a remarkably similar animal also vanquished by a man called John - The Comic book prequel to BoneBone (comics)Bone is an independently published graphic novel series originally serialized in 55 irregularly released issues from 1991 to 2004. Bone was drawn and written by Jeff Smith....
, titled RoseRose (comics)Rose is a prequel to the Eisner-winning comic book Bone. It was written by Bone creator Jeff Smith and illustrated by Charles Vess, who earned an Eisner nomination for his work on it...
- the plot of this comic book is partially a retelling of the Lambton Worm legend
External links
- A version from More English Fairy Tales, 1894, as collected by Joseph JacobsJoseph JacobsJoseph Jacobs was a folklorist, literary critic and historian. His works included contributions to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, translations of European works, and critical editions of early English literature...
- A version of the story by Philip Atkinson
- A version of the story by Herrington Heritage
- A version of the story by Claire Russell
- The Lambton Worm and Penshaw Hill (Mysterious Britain)
- North East England History Pages
- Serene Dragon version
- St. George's Church Parish Website