Could a massive millipede be the inspiration for Durham's dragon stories?

FOR millennia, the North East has been plagued by giant worms which roamed the region doing unspeakable things.

Our favourite worm comes from Sockburn, and it terrified the Tees Valley with its constant demands for cows’ milk. The Lambton Worm, which caused havoc at Fatfield near Sunderland, was just as horrific as it “grewed an aaful size; he’d greet big teeth, a greet big gob an greet big googly eyes”, and there’s also the Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh, near Bamburgh, which undoubtedly behaved quite reprehensibly.

The Lambton Worm yesterday

Of course, no one is worried by a garden creepy-crawly like a worm, and so to explain the terrifying nature of North East worms we have to remind ourselves that the word “worm” comes from Old Norse “orm” and Old English “wyrm” which mean “serpent” or “dragon”. These were fully frightening beasts.

But perhaps the origin of the story could have been a garden creepy-crawly after all. Just before Christmas, palaeontologists revealed they had discovered the fossil of a massive millipede the size of a car on a beach in Northumberland (below).

The millipede (above) was 2.7 metres, or 8ft, long and weighed 50kg – that’s eight stone. It is properly called an Arthropleura, and it was found at Howick Bay, a little to the south of Craster.

It would have been truly terrifying to come face to face with such a ginormous wee beastie, but don’t worry – it lived about 325m years ago, at a time when Britain was near the equator and very warm, and probably became extinct after 45m years.

A scientist's view of the massive millipede sunbathing on a beach

But perhaps just a few lingered on long enough to meet our ancestors who passed on their details in the folktales that still haunt our region and fire our imaginations.