With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Battle of the Nile tree clumps pinpointed for visitors by National Trust

Visitors to a collection of tree clumps planted near Stonehenge to commemorate the Battle of the Nile are able to pinpoint the location of each ship for the first time.

The National Trust has erected information boards to explain the positions of the clumps of beech, maple and hawthorn in the Wiltshire Countryside, each of which represents a British or French ship.

The Nile Clumps, as they are called, were thought to have been planted nearly 200 years ago to mark Nelson's death after Capt Thomas Hardy and Nelson's mistress, Lady Emma Hamilton, persuaded Lord Douglas of Amesbury to put them on his estate.

"Each clump is said to represent the position of a French or British ship during one of Nelson's most significant clashes with Napoleon, the Battle of the Nile in 1798," said Stephen Fisher, one of the trust's volunteers involved in the board's creation.

Each clump, as shown on a Google Maps image, carries the name of a different vessel, including the Vanguard, Goliath and Bellerophon.

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)