In the centre of the village stands two weeping elm trees (these are two of only a few in the country). Up until the early 1900s there were three. The other one fell down across the road as a lady was going by in a horse and trap. The horse bolted and threw the lady from the trap. Her arm was broken and she died shortly after.
In 1912 a steam plough engine was going up the village and the steering chain broke. It ran into the ditch. The men tied a chain round one of the weeping elms so that it could pull itself out. The chain mark can still be seen around the trees.
A traction engine in Kirtling
In 1945 a Lancaster bomber crashed in a garden of a house on the Saxon Street road. It was wedged so close to the house that the people could not get out of the back door and the nose of the plane hung over the bank of the road. Two of the airmen were killed but the pilot walked up the road to the next house to get help. He was saturated with petrol but unhurt.
Editor’s note: click here for further information on the Kirtling Lancaster