The Nile Clumps are a series of tree clumps just west of
Amesbury
Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settle ...
on
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
in Wiltshire, England, planted in the early 19th century purportedly to commemorate the
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the ...
.
Planting
Between 1 and 3 August 1798 a British fleet, under
Admiral Horatio Nelson, defeated a French fleet, under
François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers
François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, Comte de Brueys (12 February 1753 – 1 August 1798) was a French naval officer who fought in the American War of Independence and as a commander in the French Revolutionary Wars. He led the French fleet in t ...
, in
Aboukir Bay
The Abū Qīr Bay (sometimes transliterated Abukir Bay or Aboukir Bay) (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Khalīj Abū Qīr) is a spacious bay on the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria in Egypt, lying between the Rosetta mouth of the Nile a ...
, in the
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the ...
. The French fleet consisted of thirteen
ships of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...
and four
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
s, while Nelson had fourteen ships of the line. All but four of the French ships were destroyed or captured; no British ships were lost.
After Nelson's death at the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
, it is believed that
Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry
Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry, (March 1777 – 3 December 1837), known as Sir Charles Douglas, 5th Baronet between 1783 and 1810, was a Scottish peer and member of Clan Douglas.
Early life
Douglas was the eldest son and heir of S ...
– a friend of Nelson's mistress,
Emma Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men ...
– planted clumps of
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
trees on his
Amesbury Abbey
Amesbury Abbey was a Benedictine abbey of women at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, founded by Queen Ælfthryth in about the year 979 on what may have been the site of an earlier monastery. The abbey was dissolved in 1177 by Henry II, who founded ...
estate to commemorate him, as part of an expansion of the parkland to the north and west of the house. Each clump represented the location of a British or French ship at a particular point in the battle.
There may have been as many as twenty-six clumps originally, spread out over three-quarters of a mile.
Today
Seventeen clumps remain today and are under preservation orders. However, as beech has a natural life of some 200 years, many are dying off. Around 2005, several clumps were replanted by local volunteers, each with about 200 mixed trees including beech,
maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
and
hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
. Amongst the clumps that have been replanted are those for
''Swiftsure'',
''Defence'',
''L'Orient'' and
''Bellerophon''.
![Battle of the Nile PW4704](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Battle_of_the_Nile_PW4704.jpg)
The evidence that the clumps were planted to commemorate the battle is based on local lore and a similarity between the layout of the woods and the position of ships shown in
Robert Dodd's map of the battle. The UK
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...
has also suggested that the link between the
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the ...
and the clumps is "quite likely".
Most of the surviving clumps stand on the north side of the
A303
The A303 is a trunk road in southern England, running between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon via Stonehenge. Connecting the M3 and the A30, it is part of one of the main routes from London to Devon and Cornwall. It is a prim ...
to the west of Amesbury and inside the
Stonehenge World Heritage Site
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in Wiltshire, England. The WHS covers two large areas of land separated by about , rather than a specific monument or building. The sites were inscribed as co-listi ...
, although several used to stand south and along the course of the road. Several of the remaining clumps stand on land owned by the
National Trust's Stonehenge Landscape
The Stonehenge Landscape is a property of The National Trust, located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. The estate (formerly known as Stonehenge Historic Landscape and before that as Stonehenge Down) covers surrounding the neolithic mo ...
property.
Other memorial woods
A plaque on the
Nelson Memorial at Swarland, Northumberland mentions a line of trees in the shape of the coastline of the
Nile delta
The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...
, with other trees in the positions of the British and French ships, to the west of the monument. Aerial photographs suggest that the trees may be at .
The Nile Clumps are sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Trafalgar Clumps. In 2005, a Trafalgar Woods project organised by the
Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland Natural heritage, heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972 ...
and the
Society for Nautical Research
The Society for Nautical Research is a British society that conducts research and sponsors projects related to maritime history worldwide.
Founded in 1910, the Society initially encouraged research into seafaring, ship-building, the language and c ...
aimed to plant 250,000 trees in a series of woods across the UK, to commemorate the 2005 bicentenary of the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
. The 27 new woods each represented a ship which took part in the battle, the largest being Victory Wood in Kent.
See also
*
Monuments and memorials to Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758–1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars, most notably in the Battle of Trafalgar, during which he was killed. He was responsible for several ...
References
{{Reflist
Monuments and memorials in Wiltshire
Monuments and memorials to Horatio Nelson
Amesbury