Trying not to look too much like a maniac, I found myself studying old English road maps and trying to pick up clues as to where The Lair of the White Worm is at. Searching for more information, I turned up this site for walking tours. It brought up a map as though there were an actual circuit you could make to tour the titular lair. It may have been something that just walked you past the sites the movie was filmed at, and probably was, except I did notice that the site does not, in its own search, turn up anything for “lair”.
There is this talk about breezes coming in from the eastern sea (Chatper XL, “Wreckage”) and the book does a mighty hard job of convincing you it’s right along the eastern coast of England. Moreso and moreso as the book moves on. While this is unsupportable, I had initially imagined the lair as being situated just to the east of the eastern border of Derbyshire, with the worm-side of the Brow—as represented by the cliff face that’s blown out—facing seaward.
But the actual description of the arc of the brow, from early on the book makes it clear that Castra Regis is at the westernmost point of the north—probably north—end and swoops eastward and southward, and the lair is on the inside. The flat plains stretch out to the east, per the book. Also, we know that Doom Tower is just over the border of Derbyshire.
Derbyshire has a long border, as befitting a highly irregular rectangle.
Doom Tower was a lofty structure, seated on an eminence high up in the Peak. The top of the tower commanded a wide prospect ranging from the hills above the Ribble to the near side of the Brow, which marked the northern bound of ancient Mercia.
OK, so, I take that back, Castra Regis must be at the SOUTH end of the the Brow and Doom Tower must be at the north. Mercia was, at the height of the empire quite large, but if we assume the Peak is quite high, we can weasel our way out of that one, though it’s less and less supportable the further south we go on the Derbyshire border.
Unfortunately, as we go north and west, we have another trouble: Wolverhampton. That is our closest major city, we know this from both Arabella:
“Soon? I shall have to wait till we get to Wolverhampton. There is no one near who can mend a break like that.”
And from Mimi:
“I had my electric torch that you gave me recharged the day I was in Wolverhampton with Sir Nathaniel.”
Mimi was never in Wolverhampton with Sir Nathanial, as far as I know—when? how? why?—but let’s not lose the plot. The point is, Wolverhampton is the nearest big city. What’s more, Chapter I gives us the journey that Uncle Richard is taking and his first major stop is Stafford—a city just 15 miles north of Wolverhampton. This suggests a location on the southern border of Derbyshire.
Yet, when they’re racing against TWW, what’s their first stop? Macclesfield, which is to the north, but then doubling back south to Congleton. For all intents and purposes, it seems like the lair would have to be in Derbyshire, in order for this to make any sense. But why do we think it’s outside Derbyshire?
My old friend, Sir Nathaniel de Salis, who, like myself, is a freeholder near Castra Regis, though not on it—his estate, Doom Tower, is over the border of Derbyshire, on the Peak…
Y’know, it could be “over the border” as in “we’re inside and he’s outside”. Like “He lives over the Mexican border, in Texas” said somebody in Juarez. There is this, of course:
I live, and have for many years lived, in Derbyshire, a county more celebrated for its caves than any other county in England.
But if you lived just over the border in an ancient land, and the whole area—which includes the Peak District—would you think of it all as Derbyshire? Where are my ancient county maps? Hmmm. Derbyshire didn’t used to be quite so rectangular, according to this game map:
Confirmed by this map from the 19th century:
You can even see the High Peak on that one!
You can’t see it on either map—or at least I can’t, not sure if I cut it off or what—but the further north you go, the closer you are to Manchester. No way do you go to Wolverhampton if you’re that close to Manchester. So it’s got to be pretty far south—enough to make that trip more appealing. Maybe it’s also an easier journey if you’re deep in the mountains.
Derbyshire was pretty remote and underdeveloped until the 19th century, which is probably why Stoker picked it.
The penultimate stop on their chase, just before Liverpool is Runcorn:
That’s a 19th century street map!
So, our heroes have to get from Macclesfield to Congleton to Runcorn:
Something like this:
The actual route is much more circuitous, obviously, what with being done by road and all that. But I have the characters taking certain shortcuts and I can actually back that up!
So where are they, relative to Macclesfield? I’m thinking something like:
These are the highest areas of the Peak District. Now, it’s still closer to Manchester than to Wolverhampton, but depending on the Lair’s position, it could make a lot more sense to go south rather than north, through hilly terrain.
Lair Of The White Wyrm 