The Lampton Wyrm is a legendary creature from the folklore of North East England, particularly associated with the area around the River Wear and the village of Lambton.
HTML5 mp4 https://david.bovill.me/assets/uncle-john/uncle-john.mp4 Uncle John singing the Lambton Worm.
The song is generally credited to **C. M. Leumane (1867)** and is treated as a traditional North East folk song now.
This old Geordie legend tells the tale of a young man named John Lambton, who famously skipped church one Sunday to go fishing. Instead of an ordinary fish, he caught a strange, eel-like creature—soon revealed to be a wyrm. Unimpressed, he tossed it into a well and thought no more of it. But as the years passed, the wyrm grew into a monstrous serpent that terrorized the countryside.
The tale is rich in the themes of medieval legend: after many destructive encounters and failed attempts to slay the creature, John Lambton eventually returns as a seasoned knight. With the help of a wise woman’s advice and a suit of spiked armour, he defeats the wyrm by luring it into the River Wear, where it is finally vanquished.
The story of the Lampton Wyrm has been passed down through generations as both a spoken ballad and a local song. It captures the spirit of North East England’s folklore, reflecting a blend of medieval superstition and local identity.
# See - Uncle John