Legends of Chester-le-Street

The Lambton Worm

Young John Lambton skips church to fish the River Wear and hooks a small eel-like creature, which he throws down a well. It grows into a huge worm that coils around a hill and terrorises the country. Returning from the Crusades, he kills it in spiked armour on a witch's advice — at the price of a curse on his family.

At the table: A creature that began as a boy's mistake, and a promise that costs nine generations.