Worms of England and the Borders

What is a worm?

Tradition In the north of England, dragons were locally called ‘worms’, from the Norse word Ormr, a serpent or dragon. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition Henderson found these tales ‘sometimes enshrined in ballads, sometimes bound up with the tenure of property, sometimes sculptured as part of church decorations’. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Literature Walter Scott suggested that such stories might remember large serpents living in Britain’s woods and marshes before the country was drained and cleared. Henderson reports the idea without settling it. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition The Pollard Worm, says Henderson, appears to have been in fact a wild boar. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Sockburn and the falchion

Tradition At Sockburn on the Tees, each new Bishop of Durham was met at Croft Bridge or in the river and handed the falchion (a curved sword) with which ‘the champion Conyers slew the worm’. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

The Worm of Linton

Tradition The Worm of Linton, in the Scottish Borders, had its den in a hollow still called the ‘Worm’s Hole’. The laird of Lariston killed it by thrusting a peat dipped in scalding pitch, fixed on his lance, down its throat. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition The Somerville family claimed the deed for John Somerville, who received Linton in 1174, saying William the Lion gave it as a reward. They bear a dragon in their crest. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition The dying Linton worm was said to have twisted so hard that the sides of Wormington Hill still show spiral marks. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Mordiford and Deerhurst

Tradition At Mordiford in Herefordshire the fight was said to have happened in the river Lug. A painting in the church showed the dragon as a winged serpent about twelve feet long. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition At Deerhurst, near Tewkesbury, a man named John Smith put milk near a serpent’s lair. It drank and lay down to sleep, and he cut off its head with an axe. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Sussex, Essex and Oxfordshire

Tradition In St Leonard’s Forest in Sussex, the saint was said to have fought a dragon, and beds of lilies of the valley spring up wherever his blood fell. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition The same tale says the singing nightingales disturbed the saint’s prayers, so he told them to leave and they never came back. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition An account written in 1614 reported a serpent ‘oft-times seen’ at Faygate, within a mile of Horsham, nine feet long. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition At St Osyth in Essex, in 1170, a dragon ‘of marvellous bigness’ was said to set fire to houses simply by moving. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗

Tradition Near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, in 1349, a serpent with two heads and bat-like wings was reported. William Henderson, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), chapter 8, Wikisource ↗