quence of the sudden sinking of a witnessing the effect of his youthful coal-mine, which had existed, ne-imprudence, saw that the worm must glected and forgotten, beneath the at once be destroyed, and immesite of the Castle, since the year diately undertook the adventure. 1600. So much were the walls and After several fierce combats, in ceilings shaken and bent, and into which he was foiled by his enemy's such chasms and fissures were they power of self-union, he went to conriven, that it is a matter of astonish-sult a witch, or wise woman. By her ment that so much of the original advice he armed himself in a coat of building should have remained stand-mail, studded with razor-blades, and, ing. The coal-mine is now bricked up. Among the pictures in the Castle are "the Captive," Reynolds; Lady Hamilton, Reynolds; Lady Louisa Lambton, Lawrence; Hon. Chas. W. Lambton, seated on a rock (the "Master Lambton," well known from engravings), Lawrence.

thus prepared, placed himself on the crag in the river, and awaited the monster's arrival. At the usual time the worm came to the rock, and wound himself with great fury round the armed knight, who had the satisfaction to see his enemy cut in pieces by his own efforts, while the stream washing away the several parts prevented the possibility of re-union.

Connected with Lambton is the famous legend of the Worm, which cannot be better told than in the "There is still a sequel to the story. words of Surtees. "The heir of The witch had promised Lambton Lambton, fishing, as was his profane success only on one condition-that custom, in the Wear of a Sunday, he would slay the first living thing hooked a small worm or eft, which which met his sight after the victory. he carelessly threw into a well, and To avoid the possibility of human thought no more of the adventure. slaughter, Lambton had directed his The worm, at first neglected, grew father, that as soon as he heard him till it was too large for its first habi- sound three blasts on his bugle, in tation, and, issuing forth from the token of the achievement performed, Worm Well,' betook itself to the Wear, he should release his favourite greywhere it usually lay a part of the day hound, which would immediately fly coiled round a crag in the middle of to the sound of the horn, and was the water; it also frequented a green destined to be the sacrifice. On mound near the well (the Worm hearing his son's bugle, however, the Hill'), where it lapped itself nine old chief was so overjoyed that he times round, leaving vermicular forgot the injunctions, and ran himtraces, of which grave living wit-self with open arms to meet his son. nesses depose that they have seen the vestiges. It now became the terror of the county, and, amongst other enormities, levied a daily contribution of nine cows' milk, which was always placed for it at the green hill, and in default of which it devoured man and beast. Young Lambton had, it seems, meanwhile, totally repented himself of his former life and conversation, had bathed himself in a bath of holy water, taken the sign of the Cross, and joined the Crusaders. On his return home he was extremely shocked at

Instead of committing a parricide, the conqueror again repaired to his adviser, who pronounced, as the alternative of disobeying the original instructions, that no chief of the Lambtons should die in his bed for seven, or as some accounts say, for nine generations-a commutation which, to a martial spirit, had nothing probably very terrible, and which was willingly complied with."

General Lambton, an Indian officer of high reputation, ninth in succession from the slayer of the worm, was the first who died in his bed, and it

278. m. Lamesley Stat. The woods of Ravensworth are seen on the 1.

is said that he kept pistols on his | goblin, firmly believed in in the pillow during his last illness, to pre- neighbourhood. It is generally supvent his servants from fulfilling the posed to appear in the form of a prophecy by removing him. The horse with a bushy tail.)] name of Lambton occurs as early as the commencement of the 13th centy., when John de Lamtun appears as a witness to the charter of Uchtred de Wodeshend. It is remarkable, in 284 m. Gateshead Stat., whence tracing the long pedigree of the there are branch lines for coal to family, that the only one of its mem-Blaydon and Tanfield, and immedibers who attained to any great emi-ately N. of which, on crossing the nence or title was the late Earl, am- High Level Bridge (Rte. 11), the bassador to Russia, 1835-7, and Com- Rly. enters Northumberland missioner to Canada, 1836, but more Newcastle. celebrated as the great advocate of Political Reform.

The Worm Hill, a conical mound like an ancient barrow, is still to be seen on the N. bank of the Wear, at North Biddick. The Worm Well, which was 26 yds. distant from it, and which had formerly a great reputation as a Wishing Well," has now entirely disappeared. A pleasant walk by the Houghton-gate of the park leads back from the Castle to Fence Houses Stat.

66

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Gateshead is a town of 48,592 Inhab., entitled under the Reform Bill to send a member to Parliament. Though it is in the county of Durham, it is little more than a suburb of Newcastle, from which it is only separated by the Tyne, and to which it stands in the same relation as Southwark to London, or Salford to Manchester. "It is a centre of work, noise, smoke, and dirt; ironworks, brass-works, chain-cable works, glass-works, bottle-works, (Pelton and Picktree, 2 villages and chemical-works lie on all sides about 1 m. N. of Chester-le-Street, and at Gateshead Fell are situhave a local celebrity. "Peltonated the great grindstone quarries, Lonin is the name of one of the whence Newcastle derives its fame liveliest and most popular north for Newcastle grindstones,' which country airs, though the accompani- are despatched to all corners of the ment beginning globe."-Dodd.

"The swine com jingling down Pelton Lonin, There's five black swine and never an odd

one,

does not appear to have much meaning. Ailsie Marley, the subject of another popular song, was landlady of the Barley Mow public-house at Picktree. It is said that, having lost her pocket, she announced it to her husband while he was drinking, who immediately struck up an impromptu, beginning

"O d'ye ken Ailsie Marley, honey;

The wife that sells the barley, honey? She's lost her pocket and all her money, Aback o' the bush i' the garden, honey." The "Picktree Brag" is a mischievous

The lesser streets in Gateshead (as at Newcastle) are called Chares, such as Oakwell Gate Chare, St. Mary's Chare, and Colliers' Chare.

The town has little interest except from its manufactures. St. Mary's Ch. is an ugly modern building, engrafted on the remains of an old Norm. edifice. The ground immediately adjoining the ch. is called "The Anchorage.' In the churchyard is buried the architect of Newcastle town-hall, whose figure is said to have stood formerly on the N. side of the ch. with his arm pointing to the town-hall at Newcastle, and beneath the inscription:

2 m. S.W. is Beamish (John Eden, Esq.), one of the handsomest houses in the county.

Raffensweath, and as the Danish | standard was called Raffen, it is supposed that the name, which implies "Danes' Woe," refers to a defeat they sustained here. The Liddells are descended from Thomas Liddell, a merchant adventurer, who was mayor of Newcastle in 1572." British Liberty," which is seen The 1st Bart. defended Newcastle overtopping the woods from all for Chas. I. His great-grandson was sides, in commemoration of his succreated Lord Ravensworth in 1747; cess at an election. He also laid the present peerage is a second crea- out the long straight green avenues, tion (1821). which meet a little above the house built the Gothic Banqueting House at a large circular fish-pond, and on the hill above. The woods of Gibside are of great beauty. Groves of fine forest-trees overtop a rich undergrowth of yew and of holly, which here reaches a great size. In many places deep glades, opening upon the river, admit beautiful views of the distant moorlands. In others, the woods overhang the high rocky banks of the Derwent, on which are the ruins of a Grecian Bath, built at a great expense by George Bowes, but destroyed by a landslip. Beyond the old-fashioned but gorgeous flower-garden is the Chapel, begun by George Bowes from the designs of Payne, and finished by John E. of Strathmore in the Doric style, of which it is a graceful and peculiar specimen. Its form is that of a Greek cross, and the ornaments of its mouldings, &c., are executed with the utmost delicacy and care. Its internal arrangements are peculiar, the altar being beneath the pulpit, in the centre of the building. Beneath the chapel is the vault in which the family of Strathmore are buried.

The grounds are in the style and of the period of Versailles, and are chiefly due to the taste of George Bowes, father of the unhappy (9th) Countess of Strathmore. He raised the fine Doric Column, 140 ft. in height, surmounted by a statue of

6 m. S.W. of Gateshead, reached by a road running along a ridge which commands fine views of Newcastle and the valley of the Tyne, is Gibside (John Bowes, Esq.), a fine old mansion built by Sir William Blakiston in the reign of James I., on an estate which his ancestors obtained by marriage with the Marleys in 1534. Mary Blakiston brought Gibside by marriage to Sir William Bowes in the end of the 17th centy., and her granddaughter Mary Eleanor, sole heiress of the united families of Bowes and Blakiston, married 1767, John Lyon, 9th Earl of Strathmore, whose grandson is the present possessor. The S. front was restored by John 10th Earl of Strathmore, and consists of five bold projecting and embattled bays with large mullioned windows, and in the centre the entranceporch, adorned with the arms of James I. within the garter; of Blakiston quartering Marley and the initials W. and J. (for William and Jane Blakiston), with the date April 12, 1620. Two of the bays light the old drawing-room, which has a fine chimney-piece emblazoned with the arms of the founder, and supported by figures of Samson and Hercules. Curious traditions are connected with a haunted chamber and gallery.

A path through the wood below this chapel leads to the ruined Gothic Chapel of Friarside (1 m.), beautifully situated in a green meadow, on the banks of the Derwent, and backed by wooded hills. This was a monastic dependency, and, being only served by a single monk, was among the first of the religious

and Covenant, August 27, 1640, and the next day abandoned Newcastle; the Scotch planted their cannon on Newburn Ch., and forded the river under cover of their artillery nearly opposite Stella Hall."

institutions suppressed by Hen. VIII. | appointed English army, who fled Seven years ago great excitement before the face of the Solemn League was created by the murder of Mr. Sterling in the wood near this. He was an excellent young physician, lately come into the neighbourhood, and was shot by mistake for a rich farmer, who was expected to be going with a well-filled purse to Gibside for the rent-day.

Below the park, on the Newcastle side of Gibside, is another ruin, Hollinside, an arched fragment, picturesquely situated on a steep hollyclad bank. This was part of the old manor-house of the Hardinges, forfeited by them to George Bowes in payment of a debt, after which, the heir of the family was enabled, by his assistance, to go out to India, where he died, when the remaining property passed to the Yorkshire Hardinges, of whom Lord Hardinge is the representative. From the hill above this is a fine view over the country to the N., backed by the Cheviot Hills.

2 m. further W. is Ryton (the "water-town"), possessing a Stat. on the Newcastle and Carlisle Rly., -a place exquisitely situated upon a steep richly wooded bank above the Tyne, and in itself a picturesque village, with a stone Cross (erected 1795), a fine old Elizabethan Rectory-house, and a ch., which is one of the finest ecclesiastical buildings in the county.

The Church of Holy Cross possesses a spire 108 ft. high. It is chiefly in the E.E. style, and has been well restored. In the interior the dark oak screen and stall-work, the curious balustraded pews, and the rich stained glass in the windows, produce a fine effect of colour. The Clockburn Lane, a deep narrow W, window (a long lancet), contains road on the E. of Hollinside, is a figure of St. Paul. The font is pointed out as the track by which round, on an octagonal pillar. In Cromwell marched with his artillery the centre of the chancel (30 ft. by to cross the Derwent at Winlaton 21) is a striking effigy in Stanhope ford on his northern route in 1650. marble of a nameless ecclesiastic, Turner painted two views of Gib-with a book in his hand, and his feet side, one from the Ladies Rock, at the end of "Our Ladies Haugh," the flat green meadow which winds through the valley below the woods and house, the other from Burnop Field, a hill to the S.W.

resting upon a lion. On the walls are curious brass plates, with coloured armorial bearings (like the knights' at Windsor) to the Binney family, of whom Francis Binney, rector of Ryton (d. 1617), is described by Wood as "a great admirer of Calvin, [5 m. W. of Gateshead, on the a constant preacher, charitable, and S. bank of the Tyne, is Stella, a fine a stiff enemy to Popery." Here also old gable-ended mansion, once the are numerous memorials of the Anproperty of the nuns of Newcastle, dersons and Simpsons of Bradley, and afterwards the seat of the and of the Thorps. On the S. wall Tempests, whose heiress married is a curious sculptured slab in the attainted Lord Widdrington, who memory of Bernard Gilpin, with the forfeited his title in 1715. There boar under the oak-tree, as on his is some good tapestry here. On the tomb at Houghton. Over one of S. Stella looks down upon Stella- the stalls is a quaint carving of the heugh, which "witnessed the_panic Nativity, placed there by a late and defeat of a numerous and well-rector (Ven. Arch. Thorp) 1826. [Dur. & N.]

E