AMESBURY has its own unique memorial to Nelson, although it was the Battle of the Nile (1798) rather than Trafalgar (1805) that clearly caught the imagination of the 4th Duke of Queensberry, who owned Amesbury Abbey and its estate.

A longstanding friend of Nelson's mistress Lady Emma Hamilton, Queensberry had clumps of beech trees planted to mark the precise position of the French and British ships at the height of the battle.

In the intervening 200 years, the so-called Nile Clumps were reduced in many cases to mere stumps, as time and pollution (the A303 now runs through the centre of the battle lines) took their toll.

A campaign and fund-raising effort by the Rotary Club in Amesbury has helped pay for replanting and restoration.