IN woodland near Newby Bridge is a monument praising the bravery of sailors more than 200 years ago.
Finsthwaite Tower was built during the Napoleonic wars and would once have provided a viewpoint over the surrounding scenery.
It is thought that in late Victorian years some tourists were killed by lighting while visiting the tower.
The doorway to the tower was later sealed.
A carved stone plaque on one of the walls says: “Erected to honour the officers, seamen and marines of the Royal Navy whose matchless conduct and irresistible valour decisively defeated the fleets of France, Spain and Holland and preserved and protected liberty and commerce 1799.”
The tower was built by James King of Finsthwaite House, who lived from 1755 to 1821.
His father, also James, was a Royal Navy ship’s surgeon.
The tower marks Nelson’s victory against the French at Aboukir Bay during the Battle of the Nile in Egypt on August 1 in 1798 and the October 1797 victory of Admiral Duncan against the Dutch at Camperdown.
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