One of the Navy’s most sacred grounds has been restored in time for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Today the aptly-named Trafalgar Cemetery in Gibraltar is an immaculately-kept triangle just outside the city walls.

But just a few months ago it was an overgrown, dilapidated patch, its 150 or so gravestones so blackened by years of neglect that inscriptions were barely legible.

The efforts of a team from the Maritime Data Centre on the Rock, and local youngsters performing community service as penance for misdemeanours, has transformed this derelict graveyard into a fitting resting place for Servicemen of centuries past.

The cemetery was used by the British military from 1708 until 1835 and, despite its name, only two men mortally wounded at Trafalgar are buried here – the majority were buried at sea. But victims of other Naval actions, at Algeciras in 1801, Cadiz (1810) and Malaga (1812), are interred in the yard.

The team from the MDC were surprised by the state of the burial ground when they first saw it.

“The drains were broken, weeds were overgrowing, you couldn’t read the gravestones and some residents were using the back of the site as a tip,” said Lt Cdr Nick Chapman.

Through links with the probation service, the Data Centre sailors provided supervision to help young people on community service revamp the cemetery in time for the 300th anniversary celebrations of British rule on the Rock, and in good time for next year’s Trafalgar bicentennial.

For the Navy, the project has been a good chance to show the community-spirited nature of the Senior Service, while for many of the youngsters it has been a chance to make amends.

“When they realised that we were doing this on a voluntary basis, they really got stuck in,” explained WO1 Peter White.

“One of the lads took particular interest in cleaning one of the gravestones. He even came back once his probation was over to finish the job.”

The overhaul of the cemetery is not yet complete – that will come next year, when a 7ft bronze statue of Nelson is installed at the entrance.