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Not Tyneside, Mike, but Wearside.
Sure. a folk song was composed about the Lambton Worm, but the basis of that song was a myth of more complexity than is retold in the song. Lord Lambton was advised by a 'wise woman' how to prevent the worm from regrowing after it had been cut through, i.e.it's various parts had to be cast into the River Wear to separate them. For this information the lady demanded that the young Lord must also klll the first living thing he encountered after killing the Worm. Unfortunately, the first thing he encountered was his own father; so instead he killed his father's dog. The 'Curse of the Lambtons' fell upon the family, whereby no claimant to the family title would die in his bed, but would come to a sticky end. History records that this, in reality, was the outcome of Lord Lambton's timidity.
The underlying story is certainly a myth, Mike, and it still begs the question 'what, if any, is the correlation with the St. George and Dragon myth ?'