Mention the name Shotley anywhere in the world and the chances are the instant reply will be 'Oh, Ganges...'

Indeed Ganges is synonymous with Shotley Gate and for the past four years it has been the name of a Babergh district council ward.

It instantly evokes a mental picture of the iconic mast, the centre point of the Royal Naval Training Establishment (RNTE) on the tip of the stunning Shotley peninsula.

HMS Ganges (Picture: Archiive)

The background to how the local authority chose the name as a ward is the latest chapter in the fascinating rich history of Ganges.

Four years ago boundary changes, designed to reduce the number of councillors in a districts countrywide in a bid to cut costs, meant the Shotley peninsula would drop from five council representatives to four.

This meant a re-alignment of the boundaries within the peninsula to cater for a reduction of two councillors to one in both Brantham ward and what was the Berners ward.

In one of his last actions as Holbrook's well-respected Independent councillor of long standing, David Rose suggested the new wards be named Stour (which included his own village) Orwell and Ganges, while Brantham kept its name from became geographically smaller, although new development kept its numbers up.

David Rose with fellow peninsula councillor Derek Davis and Suffolk PR guru Nicki Mayhew (Picture: Nub News)

Incumbents Alastair McCraw and Derek Davis, both Independents, backed Mr Rose's suggestions which were also agreed by the Electoral Commission and so it came to pass.

Mary McLaren was elected in the newly-formed Stour Ward and Jane Gould in the Orwell Ward, while Cllr McCraw retained his Brantham seat and Cllr Davis was voted in at the aptly named Ganges ward.

It was particularly poignant for Cllr Davis, who had been a Ganges boy doing his basic Royal Navy training in 1974, before doing his Part Two specialist training at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire.

He returned to Shotley Gate in 2001 as a journalist with the East Anglian Daily Times and when time allowed, became a volunteer at the Ganges Museum, serving as its chairman for a couple of years.

HMS Ganges at Battle of the Nile

Although well known as HMS Ganges, the stone frigate was only officially given that name in 1913 before that it had been known only as the Royal Navy Training Establishment (RNET) from its opening in 1906.

The RNET initially included HMS Boscawen, HMS Minotaur (from which part of the iconic mast was constricted) HMS Agincourt and HMS Caroline in the estuary between Harwich and Shotley.

The very first HMS Ganges was built by the East India Company in 1782 and the 74-gun warship was initially called the Bengal. She became a flagship of Sir Francis Drake, won battle honours at Copenhagen under Horatio Nelson

The second HMS Ganges was built in 1821 in Bombay, which is nowhere near the river Ganges. After serving in Vancouver Colony in Canada she was used as a training ship in Mylor, Falmouth before sailing up to Shotley.

Following its break up in Devonport, the panelling in the captain's cabin was purchased by Thomas Nelson, 4th Earl Nelson, who installed it in the principal top-floor room at Trafalgar Park in Wiltshire. The captain's cabin in the stern was used in the construction of the Burgh Island Hotel in Devon.

In 1933, timbers from the ship were also used to construct the cross that stands outside the eastern end of Guildford Cathedral in Surrey.

The town of Ganges, British Columbia, on Salt Spring Island, and the adjacent waters of Ganges Harbour are named after HMS Ganges. 

Currently, work is being done by developers Wavensmere and galliard Home sin a hint venture to build an initial 285 homes, along with many community faciities, which included renovations the iconic 143ft high HMS Ganges mast.