On more than one occasion I have heard the story about a group of trees planted in clumps and to be found between Amesbury and Stonehenge.

It was suggested to me recently that they were originally planted by the Antrobus family, when they owned the Amesbury Abbey estate, to represent the formation of the ships at Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar.

However, it has also been said that that the Antrobus family could not have planted the trees, because they did not take over the estate until 1824, which was many years after the famous battle.

A further suggestion was that it was perhaps more likely to have been the work of the fourth Earl of Queensbury who, at one time, owned the estate, and did not die until 1810, which was five years after Trafalgar.

(Image: Frogg Moody)

But this particular Earl, it was stated, was only interested in women and the turf and he was not the type of man to plant a clump of trees!

This week it was pointed out to me that engaged in the Battle were a total of 60 ships, whereas there was only 14 clumps of trees.

Old employees on the Abbey Estate who had information handed down to them said it was far more likely that the trees were planted to commemorate Nelson’s victory at the Nile in 1798, in which fourteen ships were engaged.

Further evidence comes from an old map of 1773 where only 14 clumps of trees are shown at Amesbury, although it has to be conceded that they are not shown to be on the Abbey estate.

But whatever the trees were put in to represent, the matter of who planted them must remain a matter of conjecture – unless someone can offer me further information?