Worm of Linton

The Linton Worm is a mythical beast referred to in a Scottish Borders legend dating back to the 12th century.

A 12th-century writer believed it to be "In length three Scots yards and bigger than an ordinary man’s leg – in form and callour to our common muir edders."

Emerging from its lair at dusk and dawn to ravage the countryside, eating crops, livestock and people, it proved invulnerable to the weapons ranged against it.

The news reached the ears of one John de Somerville, the Laird of Lariston and a man of reckless courage, who was in the south at that time.

[1] The writhing death throes of the Linton Worm supposedly created the curious topography of the hills of the region, an area that came to be known as "wormington".