This one is my very favourite story from Mablethorpes history. To be honest it gets me a little annoyed when I hear it referred to as a "legend". To me it's always been the truth, an integral part of the history of the town. Two 14th (?) century noblemen fighting to the death outside of our town.
I was perhaps eight years old when I first heard the story. It was at the primary school when Sid Patchett was the headmaster. He read an account of the battle, where he got that from I don't know. But he was a noted historian and had two school history text books to his name. Oh that he was still alive to ask...
So, one week he read us this account of the battle of Earl's Bridge and the next week he walked us up to the church in Mablethorpe to see the evidence for ourselves. That was a long way for an eight year olds legs But there was the irrefutable proof the helmet and the tomb.
My brother who is three years my junior reembers the story too. I think that after Sid's retirement the teaching of local history to the juniors at the primary school disappeared and so, something that I saw as fact becomes a legend to future generations.
That tale and the experience of seeing the evidence for our own eyes has stayed with my brother and I ever since and we both will freely admit to remembering Sid Patchett and the story of the Battle of Earls' Bridge every time we drive along the Maltby straight...

Thanks for yet another wonderful insight into our town, which is full of fascinating mysteries and legends, it seems!

Thanks
There really is a lot more to Mablethorpe than you'd think. I've got even more fascinated by the towns history since I joined the forum. I'm currently investigating stories of a fishing village hereabouts in pre-Roman times...

I wrote earlier about an account of the battle of Earls Bridge read to me as an 8 year old at Mablethorpe county primary school. Well, I just found it.
Google books contains scans of "Chatterbox" magazine. The February 3rd 1877 issue contains the poem about the battle of Earls Bridge on page 77.
A google search for Chatterbox and "Earls Bridge" should bring you directly to it. Complete with a super etching of Mablethorpe Church...

Ian

Oh by the way, it is followed by a short poem about the kidnapping at Mablethorpe Hall