According to the legend, the "Lambton Worm" coiled itself three times around the hill. Some say that this relates to Penshaw Hill where the Earl of Durham's Monument is located (HER 3094) - there are earthworks around Penshaw Hill. The young heir of the Lambton Estate, according to the rhyme, was finishing one Sunday when he was supposed to be at church, and caught an "evil-looking worm" which he tore off his hook and through down a well. Whilst the boy grew up and went abroad to fight, the worm grew in the well until it had the strength to climb out. Eventually it slithered out, basked on a rock during the day, and then coiled itself round the hill near Lambton Castle. It became the terror of the neighbourhood, eating sheep, lambs and cows, trampling cornfields and meadows. In desperation the farmers filled a trough in Lambton Castle with milk, and the worm drank the equivalent of the yield of nine cows every day. Many knights tried and failed to kill the worm. After seven years the young Lord of Lambton returned from battle. He consulted a witch who told him that after he had killed the worm, he must slay the first living thing he met, or the Lords of Lambton would be cursed, never to die in their beds for nine generations. Lord Lambton stood on a rock in the river, his armour studded with blades, and cut off part of the worm's tail. The worm coiled itself round the Lord's body and legs, and was cut by the spear blades on his armour. The Lord cut the creature into pieces, which were washed away by the River Wear. Seeing the death of the monster, the young Lord's father rushed to congratulate him. The son could not obey the witch's advise and so killed a hound which had come out of the wood. So the worm was slain, but it was said that for nine generations no Lord of Lambton died peacefully in his bed.

The Houghton Burn passes through the centre of Houghton. A Mr Coulson had an area of the burn excavated to create a lake. The lake is shown on the Ordnance Survey third edition map of 1919. It was a popular leisure resort for boating. The diversion of the burn affected the running of the flint mill (HER 3164) and so the owners protested for the stream to be restored to its former course. Eventually two brothers, Robinson, Darlington showmen, infilled the lake and made it into a showground where Houghton Feast (established to mark the anniversary of the dedication of St. Michael's Church) fairground was held. Also used as a football ground.

Tradition says that Bernard Gilpin (rector of Houghton 1558) took a cutting from the thorn in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, which according to legend had been planted there by Joseph of Arimethea. Gilpin planted the thorn in the rectory grounds. Frank Rushford, in his book of c1950 described the thorn tree as "crabbed and gnarled with age, and supported here and there with timber, and yet still in a wonderful state of preservation. It is a historic object of which Houghtonians are not a little proud". Tree no longer there.

Quay walls survive well between the site of the staithes, adjacent to the ironworks managers house and a point immediately south-east of the ironworks (approx. NZ 1847 eastwards to NZ 1866 6447). These walls probably pre-date the construction of a channel across Blaydon Haugh by the Tyne Improvement Commission in the 1850s which created the Gut and led to a waning of industrial development at Lemington (the ironworks already being closed/in decline by this time). The Gut survives as a silted cul-de-sac of the Tyne, preserving the quayside walls alodn with fragmentary remains of staithes and, probably, sunken boats in its silt.

In 1999 photographs were taken of a brick and stone building with pan-tiled roof and recessed north-west corner wall, situated next to the quay walls of Lemington Gut, south of the ironworks site. Its date is uncertain, but it seems to have been part of the ironworks site and may pre-date it. It is shown on a map of 1844 (AP 1999, p.17), on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map and in a truncated form on the 2nd edition of 1899. This enigmatic structure, latterly a stable, was pulled down sometime between 1999 and 2003, but its foundations are likely to survive.

A public House (name obscure on map) is marked at this location on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey plan, surveyed c.1855.

This quarry appears on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map of 1897. IT contained a small gunpowder store, the only permanent structure. The quarry had closed by 1920 but is still visible.

A row of shops and houses with an adjoining former Co-op branch. Red brick. Spoilt by the loss of some front gardens to concrete parking. The traditional shopfront, window and other joinery is painted deep green. The first floor windows are uPVC. There is a detailed brick boundary wall at the top of Sunderland Road.

Late Victorian red brick houses. No. 3 is later and of different proportions, form and materials. No. 2 has a painted front. The original windows and classical door cases survive. The boundary wall along Whitburn Terrace is old and buttressed.

A line of 18th century coal pits is suggested at this location on the basis of early map evidence.