Article
Trinity House
Trinity House or more correctly 'The
Corporation of Trinity House', was established in 1514 by Henry VIII. Its
main function is the safety of shipping, and the wellbeing of seafarers.
What it does can be split into several
parts:-
Lighthouses, radio beacons, marking
immediate new hazards, and the sign posts of the sea.
It is the General Lighthouse
Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, responsible
for a range of general aids to navigation, 'signs of the sea', from
lighthouses to radar beacons.
It runs a lot of lighthouses in these
areas. You can identify all that are active in England and Wales, as they are
listed on our
Featured List of Lighthouses - England and Wales
 and
in the links column have 'TH'. Similarly those in the Channel Isles are in
Featured
List of Lighthouses - Channel
Islands.
The Trinity House Lighthouse we don't have listed is the one at Gibraltar.
Some of these are the most magnificent structures created, others are a
light on a post. The 'TH' links go directly to the Trinity House page on the
lighthouse. From our location guides there are also links, and we have a
location guide on all of them.
Some of the lighthouses are open to the
public, and have visitor centres, generally these visitor activities are
franchised out to others to run. The lighthouses that are open to visit are
shown on our listings with a yellow band, they are also shown on the listing
in the links column with the code 'TH Open', and these links go directly to
the Trinity House page on visiting arrangements, this is a different page
to that linked to with the 'TH' link.
Some of the lighthouse keepers cottages are
now available for holidays, see
Staying in or by a Lighthouse.
Trinity House are very involved in new
technology solutions, including AIS, eLoran, and DGPS. The DGPS, the
Digital Global Positioning system
became operational in 2002.
Pilotage, expert navigation
for ships in Northern Europe waters.
Ships don't have to use pilots, but some
choose to, to strengthen their bridge teams, especially if unfamiliar with
our waters. Trinity House are authorised by the Secretary of State for
Transport to licence Deep Sea Pilots.
Historically they also provided local
pilots into many ports, they were the Pilotage Authority for London and over
40 other Districts, including the major ports of Southampton and Harwich.
Under the 1987 Pilotage Act, responsibility for District Pilotage was
transferred to Port and Harbour Authorities.
Retirements Homes
Prior to the first Royal Charter,
Trinity House had a number of almshouses for aged mariners and
their dependents, near the Naval Dockyard at Deptford in Kent. Today they have 20
purpose built retirement homes at Walmer in Kent. The homes are fitted out
with the elderly in mind and have recently been refurbished to include
deck level bathrooms and larger fully equipped kitchens.
Training Scholarships (cadets)
The Trinity House Merchant Navy Scholarship
Scheme provides financial support for young people, between 16 and 18½ years
old, seeking careers as officers in the Merchant Navy.
Candidates must be British and permanently resident in the British Isles,
with a minimum of 5 GCSEs at Grade C or better, and have passed the
Department of Transport medical examination.
Cadets undertake a three or four year programme split between nautical
college and time at sea in a variety of British managed vessels. Cadets can
train as either Deck or Engineer Officers or pursue a Marine Cadetship
encompassing both disciplines.
Commercial Operations
Since revised legislation in 1997 allowed
Trinity House to undertake commercial work, they provide a range of services
to others, from put down and maintaining bouys to providing ships with
specialist facilitates. For many organisations it is both more cost
effective and reliable to use facilities that Trinity House have to offer
than to obtain and maintain specialist equipment themselves.
Leaflets are available on the commercial
service offered
Amongst the assets they have
available are 3 specialist ships:-
THV
Galatea
- New in 2007. Multi Functional Tender, 84m long with a service speed
of 13 knots. She is designed with buoy handling, wreck marking, towing and multibeam and side scan hydrographic surveying capability.
THV Galatea
THV Patricia - New in
1982. A Multi Functional Tender, 86m long, has a helicopter-landing
pad. 20 tonne main crane capacity and 28 tonne bollard pull and towing
winch, survey capable and accommodation for an additional 12 people.
THV Patricia
Photo
THV Alert - New in 2006.
A
Rapid Intervention Vessel, 39.3 metres long, a service speed of 15 knots and
a maximum speed of 17 knots. Designed to cover the southeast coast
where she will be able to respond rapidly to any maritime incident. She can
be involved in buoy handling, wreck marking, towing and multibeam and
side scan hydrographic surveying capability.
THV Alert
Photo
 THV Galatea Image from
Wikipedia
Funding
Monies coming into Trinity House come from
3 sources, commercial operations, charity events and fund raising, and light
dues. Light dues accounts for the vast majority of its income.
'Light Dues' are levied on commercial
vessels calling at ports in the British Isles and Republic of Ireland
ports, based on the net registered tonnage of the vessel. The rate is set
by the Department of Transport, and annually reviewed. Light Dues are
currently charged at 41 pence per net registered ton, subject to a maximum
charge of £16,400 per voyage in 2010. Vessels are charged for a maximum of
nine voyages per annum. Tugs and fishing vessels are liable for annual
payments based on the registered length of the vessel.
Light dues are paid in to the General
Lighthouse Fund, which is under the stewardship of the Department for
Transport. The fund is used to finance the lighthouse services provided by
Trinity House, the
Northern
Lighthouse Board
(responsible for Scotland and the Isle of Man) and the
Commissioners of Irish Lights
(responsible
for the waters around both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland).
A copy of the light dues
order for 2010
in Euros, with full exemptions, details etc is on the Commissioners of Irish Lights
website. aA copy of the English Parliament statutory instrument in
UK pounds for 2010
is also available on a government site, as well as
UK explanation notes.
Major initiatives such as lighthouse and
light vessel automation and the solarisation of buoys and a growing number
of lighthouses have made a significant contribution to the reduction of
Light Dues. The rate of Light Dues has fallen in real terms for over a
decade with the rate either being frozen or cut. 2009 saw the first
increase in Light Dues for 20 years, but 2010 saw a decrease.
Over the years Trinity House
has been a forward looking organisation using new techniques and skills, and
has also benefited in the large increase in the tonnage of goods shipped
into and out of Britain. From what I have read it would appear that
Trinity House now feel that most lighthouses are not really required, with
better shipping navigational aids, and would over time like to see them all
or nearly all phased out. They have wanted to close some, and local protests
put enough pressure on them for them to be left running on a reduced power
at least for the moment.
Their Charities are
principally concerned in funding retirement homes and education.
Control
Since 1604 the governing body
of the Corporation has mostly comprised of 31 senior members known as Elder
Brethren, who include the Master, Deputy Master, Wardens and Assistants of
Trinity House, while all other members are known as Younger Brethren.
Today the Corporation is
comprised of a fraternity of approximately 300 Brethren drawn from the Royal
and Merchant Navy's and leading figures in the shipping industry.
The position now of Master is
largely Ceremonial with management of Trinity House entrusted to the Deputy
Master. The presence of Prime Ministers in the succession of Masters -
notably William Pitt and the Duke of Wellington - underlines the historical
significance of Trinity House in affairs of state, but since the
mid-nineteenth century the Corporation has traditionally elected Royal
Princes as Masters, reflecting the enduring patronage of the Crown, the
present day Master since 1969 has been is HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of
Edinburgh.
Trinity House's operational
headquarters is at Harwich in Essex, supported by a small base in Swansea and a
flight operations base at St Just in Cornwall. A small number of people are based at
Tower Hill, London.
The Ensign (flag) of Trinity
House is a modified British
Red
Ensign
with
the shield of the coat of arms (a
St George's Cross
with a sailing ship in each quarter). The Master and Deputy Master each have
their own flags.
Trinity House -
The
Building
The current building, near the
Tower of London, dates from the end of the 18th Century. It was
designed by architect Samuel Wyatt and built in 1796. It has a suite of five
state rooms with views over Trinity Square, The Tower of London and The
River Thames. Inside of note is an entrance hall , quarterdeck (stairs and
balcony), court room, library and two function rooms, you can get a view of
each of these rooms by starting from
here
and selecting from the options on the right, there are also 360
panoramas, leaflets and more. The rooms can be hired for functions,
exhibitions and the like. There is a 20 page
illustrated handout.
(Trinity House have changed their website since this link was added)
 
Trinity House in 1808
History
The origins of Trinity House
is not clear, its said it came from a charitable guild of sea
submariners, established by Archbishop Stephen Langton in the 12th Century.
The first official record is
the grant of a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1514 to a fraternity of
mariners called the Guild of the Holy Trinity.
| "so
that they might regulate the pilotage of ships in the King's streams" |
The major part of this was the authority to regulate the
pilotage on the River Thames, which at the time was not only a leading
gateway for trade and naval deployment but also a heavily travelled public
thoroughfare.
At the time of inception in
1514, this charitable Guild owned a great hall and almshouses, close to the
Naval Dockyard at Deptford on the River Thames.
In 1566, Henry’s daughter,
Elizabeth I, extended the Corporation’s powers to include ‘buoyage and
beaconage’ covering the length of the English coastline.
In 1604 James I conferred on
Trinity House rights concerning compulsory pilotage of shipping and the
exclusive rights to license pilots in the River Thames.
Trinity Houses connection with seamarks
dates to the Seamarks Act of 1566 which gave them powers to set up
| "So
many beacons, marks and signs for the sea, whereby the dangers may be
avoided and escaped and ships the better come into their ports without
peril" |
Unfortunately, Trinity House funds were
extremely limited until, in 1594 the Lord High Admiral of England,
surrendered his rights to the sale of dredged ballast to sailing vessels
discharging their cargoes in the port of London. The rights to Ballast
passed to Trinity House who took over responsibility for dredging shingle
from the bed of the River Thames and selling it to masters requiring
ballast. With the rapid growth of hipping into the port of London, ballast was a very profitable business, however business declined at
the end of the nineteenth century, when steel ships capable of holding
seawater ballast were introduced.
The first lighthouse built by Trinity House
was at Lowestoft in 1609, which was part of a series of lights to help guide
vessels through a maze of sandbanks between Happisburgh and Lowestoft. The
lighthouses were paid for by a levy charged on vessels leaving the ports of
Newcastle, Hull, Boston and King's Lyn, a method of payment which is similar
to the current light dues system that remains in use today.
The next two hundred years saw a
proliferation of lighthouses, many privately owned, with an annual fee paid
either to the Crown or Trinity House. The owners of the private lights were
allowed to levy light dues from passing ships when they reached port.
While there were large revenues to be made
by some, many failed to collect, and at least to start payment was
voluntary, some went bankrupt, while many others did not have the funds to
properly provide lights.
The reliability of many of the private
lights left much to be desired and so in 1836 legislation was passed for all
private lights in England, Wales and the Channel Islands to be compulsory
purchased and placed under the management of Trinity House. The previous
owners were compensated on the basis of their receipts from light dues, a
payment of nearly half a million in respect of the
Skerries Lighthouse
 off
Anglesey.
Charters have been granted since, the last
I can find was by our current Queen in 1978. A collection of all the
charters are available,
only 37 pages in total, and are
surprisingly readable.
Further Information
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