My dear, dear Burnham

The River Burn estuary

An old rhyme: "London, York and Coventree, And seven Burnhams by the sea..." indicates that Burnham once held an important place in the country's economy.

But the landscape was much altered by the time Horatio Nelson was born in 1758.

A few centuries before, the sea came much further inland, when the River Burn, now a stream, was a tidal river. Then, some time before 1400, a change in the sea scour off Lincolnshire brought millions of tons of shingle across the Wash, choking the river's mouth.

It is probable that Horatio first saw the sea and ships at Burnham Overy Staithe, and may even have learned to sail thereabouts. In his youth, he would ride to Wells, then a busy sea port, where he would watch the ships come and go, and listen to the sailors' stories.

Burnham Thorpe pictured today

When raised to the peerage in 1798 he took the title Baron Nelson of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe. In 1801 he became Viscount Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe.

On May 11, 1804, he wrote: "Most probably I shall never see dear, dear Burnham again, but I have satisfaction in thinking that my bones will probably be laid with my father's in the village that gave me birth. The thought of former days brings all my mother into my heart, which shows itself in my eyes."