visit trinity house london

Trinity House

Top ways to experience Trinity House and nearby attractions

• Tower Hill • 2 min walk
• Tower Gateway • 4 min walk

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

Trinity House - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024) - Tripadvisor

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• (0.05 km) Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square
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• (0.16 km) Leonardo Royal Hotel London City
• (0.12 km) Apex City of London Hotel
• (0.02 km) The Liberty Bounds
• (0.02 km) Traitors Gate Tower Hill Pub
• (0.04 km) Bodean's BBQ - Tower Hill
• (0.05 km) Starbucks Coffee
• (0.05 km) KFC London - Tower Hill

Trinity House

Top ways to experience Trinity House and nearby attractions

• Tower Hill • 2 min walk
• Tower Gateway • 4 min walk

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

TRINITY HOUSE: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Trinity House

Top ways to experience Trinity House and nearby attractions

• Tower Hill • 2 min walk
• Tower Gateway • 4 min walk

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

Trinity House - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (0.04 km) Tower Residences By Blue Orchid
• (0.05 km) Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square
• (0.06 km) Bridgestreet Corporate Housing Tower View
• (0.16 km) Leonardo Royal Hotel London City
• (0.12 km) Apex City of London Hotel
• (0.02 km) The Liberty Bounds
• (0.02 km) Traitors Gate Tower Hill Pub
• (0.04 km) Bodean's BBQ - Tower Hill
• (0.05 km) Starbucks Coffee
• (0.05 km) KFC London - Tower Hill

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Visit Trinity Buoy Wharf

The site is open to the public every day, apart from Christmas Day: 7am-7pm

Our head office is open Mon to Fri: 9am– 5pm

64 Orchard Place Poplar London E14 0JW

Phone and email

Call 020 7515 7153

Email [email protected]

Call 020 7515 7153 Email [email protected]

Call 020 7515 7153 Email [email protected]

Call 020 7515 7153 Email [email protected]

Number 277, alighting at the Town Hall on the north side of East India (DLR) station. Or the D3 from Canary Wharf has a stop in Orchard Place and we are a few minutes’ walk from there.

To Canning Town, Jubilee Line, followed by a 10 min walk. On the ticket concourse level, take the first exit on the left after the ticket barriers, go through the double doors and up the circular stairs towards Bow Creek/City Island. Outside on the towpath of the river cross over the red pedestrian bridge and walk through City Island until you get to Orchard Place. Keep walking under the overpass and all the way to the end of the street which includes a dog leg. Follow the blue signs for Trinity Buoy Wharf.

To East India, followed by a 10 minute walk. Please do not walk over the footbridge at the station, instead use the stairs to the south exit opposite Nisa Convenience Store. Outside of the station turn left and follow the blue signs marked either Trinity Buoy Wharf or the Bird Sanctuary. Carry on following the route round the East India Dock Nature Reserve down to Orchard Place and turn right then walk to the end of the street which has a dogleg.

Please note: the Predator, our designated boat service that runs from the North Greenwich Pier to Trinity Buoy Wharf Pier is currently out of service until further notice.

Follow signs to Leamouth on the A13 or from Aspen Way. At the Leamouth roundabout, take the Lower Lea Crossing exit. Almost immediately, go left after the bridge. At the T-junction turn right onto Orchard Place and follow the road round to Trinity Buoy Wharf.

Please note there is no public parking on site.

Download and print a map

Find specific buildings, take a self guided art tour or find where to park your car or bike.

Accessibility

We want to be as accessible as possible for visitors with impaired mobility. As with all historic buildings, there’s a limit to what we can do. The following buildings may not be suitable if you use a wheelchair or other assistive devices to help you walk.

The Lighthouse and Longplayer There's no step free access to the Lighthouse/ Longplayer. The staircase leading up to the top of the Lighthouse is narrow, fairly steep and allows for maximum of 6 visitors at the time.

Fat Boy’s Diner Built in 1940's, the Diner is a narrow, elevated structure with entrance and exits steps, but there's an accessible outdoor seating area on the ground level in front of it.

The Faraday Effect

Due to the confined nature of the structure, there's no step free access to The Faraday Effect installation.

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Trinity House

The Court Room within the palatial headquarters of Trinity House, located on Tower Hill. The ceiling paintings include allegorical figures, representations of the Thames, Medway, Severn and Humber, naval and merchant ships, and Britannia. Above the doors at each end of the room hang paintings of Henry VIII (a copy of Holbein’s original) and a contemporary portrait of Elizabeth I by George Gower.

The Thames and its estuary hold numerous dangers for navigation. In the reign of Henry VIII a group of master mariners formed what has become known as Trinity House to ensure safety on the river. Five hundred years later the organisation continues to play an important role in maritime navigation.

Many vessels have run aground over the centuries in the Thames Estuary and its approaches. That was particularly so in the days of sail, before reliable charts, and when ships tended to stay within sight of the shore in order to navigate by landmarks such as church spires. The Maplin Sands and many other long, shifting, tongues of sand lie up to 40 miles off the Essex coast where the Thames meets the North Sea, to be avoided by ships passing into and out of the estuary on the way to east coast ports and beyond. Some are in a Y-shape, where an apparently deep channel ends in a fatal cul-de-sac. Ships en-route from London and east coast ports down to France and southern Europe must pass the Goodwin Sands off the Kent coast, described by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice as “where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried”. Well over a thousand vessels have been recorded as having been lost there since the late 15 th century and parts of unrecorded, more ancient, vessels still occasionally snag the nets of fishing boats.

It was vitally important for mariners to understand the underwater dangers, the ever-changing times of the tides according to the moon and their location along the river, the effect of the wind, and to know local landmarks during poor visibility. In 1513 a group of eminent masters and mariners petitioned Henry VIII that the standard of pilotage on the river had declined in recent times and regulation of pilots was required. From its foundation by letters patent in May 1514 responsibility for safety on the river was given to ‘The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild or Fraternitie of the most glorious and blessed Trinitie and of Saint Clement in the parish Church of Deptford Stronde in the County of Kent’, otherwise known as Trinity House, Deptford. The organisation was to provide pilotage – the safe guiding of ships by experienced English pilots – along the Thames, particularly through its shifting sandbanks in the Estuary.

The membership of Trinity House consisted of those with a wide range of nautical interests. An Act of Parliament of 1566 under Queen Elizabeth extended their responsibilities to ensure the upkeep and continuation of seamarks around the coast, those being landmarks such as church steeples and trees used by mariners to fix their position. In 1594 the provision of beacons and buoys was similarly transferred from the Lord High Admiral and the corporation gradually began providing lighthouses, their first probably being at Lowestoft in the early years of the 17 th century. The cost to the corporation regarding all these works was funded by dues paid by ships arriving at London, where it was collected by the officials of Custom House, and at other ports.

Ship ballast was particularly necessary for any unladen ship, such as colliers returning empty to Newcastle. Using wet ballast from the Thames also reduced the cost of the important dredging of the river to prevent silting. During the 16 th century the right to produce ballast was disputed between the City of London Corporation and the Lord High Admiral. The latter had been digging gravel from Old Gravel Lane (later renamed Wapping Lane). The 1594 Act settled the matter, instead transferring the right to Trinity House. The corporation’s rights and responsibilities were further extended in 1604 under James I, including the supervision of apprenticeships of seamen and to hold a court dealing with disputes, such as between masters and seamen or regarding damage to ships.

The members of Trinity House remained loyal to Charles I during the Civil War . In the summer of 1648 rumours circulating in Holland reached the Parliamentary side that Trinity House was encouraging seamen to join the Royalist navy. In February 1649, a month after the execution of the King, Parliament formed a committee of loyal overseas merchants to govern Trinity House. The organization, purged of Royalists, played a part in the formulation of commercial policy during the Commonwealth period.

From the beginning, Trinity House was involved in charitable work. Almshouses for elderly seamen and their widows were provided at Deptford. In 1695 Captain Henry Mudd, an Elder Brother, provided an estate of houses and chapel on his land at Ratcliff, much of which still remains at Mile End Road although no longer for its original purpose. Pensions were also paid to elderly or injured seamen, and by 1618 they were providing to one hundred and sixty people, which had risen to over one thousand one hundred in 1681.

Trinity House was governed by a court of eighteen Elder Brethren, some of whom were leading mariners, navigators and naval men of their day, who met at least once each week. At some point in their early years a lower class of Younger Brethren came into being, numbering 254 by 1629, mostly living around Stepney or Rotherhithe. The expansion of the membership effectively created a guild consisting largely of shipmasters, limited to natural-born Englishmen who could afford the subscription. The Brethren were headed by a Master, the first of whom was Thomas Spert, an experienced and eminent seaman from Stepney who rose through the ranks to captain the great Henri Grace à Dieu. He was knighted in 1529 and held the post until his death in 1541.

After Spert, a new Master was elected at Trinity House every three years. The naval administrator and diarist Samuel Pepys held the position of Master on two occasions, as did the Duke of Wellington between 1837 and 1852. Since 1866 the Master has been an honorary role bestowed on a member of the royal family, with the management undertaken by the Deputy Master. For 42 years it was held by the Duke of Edinburgh until his retirement in 2011 when it was conferred on the Princess Royal. Elder brethren have included Winston Churchill.

In 1618 the working headquarters of Trinity House moved to Ratcliff, the area where many of London’s merchant seaman resided. Following the Restoration a move was made to Water Lane, close to the Tower of London. That building was destroyed in the Great Fire, as was its successor in 1714. After extensive repairs in the 1790s the headquarters moved for the final time into a grand building facing the Tower of London across Tower Hill, designed by the architect Samuel Wyatt and completed in 1796. It was largely destroyed during an air raid in December 1940 but restored with much Georgian detail in 1953 and is Grade 1 listed. Many of the historical records and artworks were destroyed in the fires and bombing yet the building still contains a magnificent collection connected to its history.

As part of its responsibility for buoys and lighthouses, at the beginning of the 19 th century Trinity House established riverside workshops near Blackwall, where the River Lea joins the Thames. From there maintenance work could be carried out and experiments undertaken, for which two lighthouses were built at the yard. The electrical scientist Michael Faraday was appointed Scientific Advisor in 1836 and undertook experiments that led to advancements in lighthouses around the coast. Trinity Buoy Wharf continued in operation until 1988 although the main buildings and one lighthouse remain.

Trinity House continued as the sole authority for pilotage on the Thames and around the coast until 1986, by which time it managed around 500 self-employed pilots. At that time responsibility for pilotage on the river was transferred to the Port of London Authority with Thames pilots directly employed. Trinity House continues as a licensed authority for deep sea pilotage in Northern European waters, as well as navigation aids, including lighthouses, lightships and buoys around England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. It continues to carry out charitable and educational work including a cadet training scheme. In modern times the Elder Brethren are supported by around 300 Younger Brethren.

Sources include: G.G.Harris ‘The Trinity House of Deptford 1514-1660’; ‘Trinity House Headquarters Building’ (Trinity House); Peter Marsden ‘Ships of the Port of London 12 th -17 th Centuries’; Fiona Rule ‘London’s Docklands’; Millicent Rose ‘The East End of London’; Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith ‘The History of East London’, Robert Brenner ‘Merchants and Revolution’.

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Image credit:  Exterior of Trinity House – courtesy of The Corporation of Trinity House

Need to know

Meeting point: Trinity House, Tower Hill, London, EC3N Nearest tube station:  Tower Hill

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London’s Only Lighthouse | Trinity Buoy Wharf

Trinity Buoy Wharf is an absolute London gem, a small but mighty community of creative businesses and artists in a beautiful – and historic – riverside setting.

But one of the key reasons to visit, s to see London’s only lighthouse!

Early History of Trinity Buoy Wharf

First known as Orchard Place, this peninsula within London Docklands was rural until the late 18th century (as seen on the above map from layersoflondon.org ).

But with the building of the East India and Blackwall Docks in the early 1800s  it then became and industrial hub, popular with trades like shipbuilding and whaling.

C and J Greenwood Map c,1828 from layersoflondon.org

It only becomes known as Trinity Buoy Wharf from 1869 when Trinity House buys the land. Trinity House has a fascinating history dating back to the 1500s and essentially looked after maritime navigation around England coast. They were also in charge of the maintenance of all the country’s lighthouses.

Trinity House used the land for repairing and testing equipment and their coat of arms below (they received a Royal Charter from King Henry VIII) can be seen on some of the Victorian buildings.

London’s only lighthouse was built in 1860s by James Douglass. Originally it was one of two but sadly the second no longer survives.

It was this one that was used for scientific experiments by Michael Faraday and this fact is remembered in the Faraday Primary School on Trinity Buoy Wharf and this interactive installation seen beside the lighthouse today.

Now the lighthouse serves a very different purpose.

Since 2000 the lighthouse has housed ‘Longplayer’ an epic (in the real sense of the word) artwork. “From its inception, Longplayer is about long-term thinking” it’s essentially a piece of music, played on a computer that started in 2000 and will continue until 2999.

A Longplayer trust has been established to ensure there are people today, training people to work on the project tomorrow. In this sense it can be seen as a social organism depending on people across generations and relying on a community of listeners over the coming centuries.

Inside the lighthouse you will find curved shelves of hundreds of Tibetan Singing Bowls

Not just for decoration, this is a vast custom-made orchestra, comprised of 234 bowls. The ones on display are only part of the 66 ft wide orchestral instrument used to perform Longplayer Live, which last occurred in the Camden Roundhouse in 2014.

Today Trinity Buoy Wharf is independently managed by Urban Space Management. They’re separate from the huge residential development that’s underway nearby – run by Ballymore. Read more about their work and get the latest information about visiting Trinity Buoy Wharf here .

Watch the YouTube video below to discover more about Trinity Buoy Wharf and hear Longplayer in action!

Other London ‘Lighthouses’

I know of two other London landmarks that could dispute the ‘London’s only lighthouse’ claim. But neither are truly lighthouses (or even near water!)

The first is in Kings Cross, now a retail space above a Five Guys, it was originally a marketing ploy by an oyster restaurant on this site in the 19th century. It’s been refurbished in the last few years and gloriously restored as a landmark in the area.

The second is in Walthamstow and is part of the Lighthouse Methodist Church on Markhouse Road. The idea of a lighthouse came from Captain King who had purchased the land in 1889. Sadly he died that year but the lighthouse was completed and instead of church bells, the light would be illuminated!

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Trinity House records

1. about this guide.

This guide explains how to research the surviving records of the Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond.

Trinity House was incorporated by royal charter in 1514. For most of its history, it has had three main functions:

• General lighthouse authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar (Scotland, Northern Island and the Republic of Ireland have separate lighthouse authorities)
• Pilotage authority for London and forty other districts (known as outports)
• Charitable organisation for the relief of mariners and their dependants

The records of the Corporation of Trinity House were subject to fire in 1666 and 1714 and bombing in 1940. Though the court minutes survive from 1661, many other series of records are only present from the 19th century.

2. Searching the catalogue

You can search the surviving records on the LMA Collections Catalogue under reference code CLC/526 . Scroll down to Collection Tree View to see the full list.

3. Online Records

None of these records are available online.

4. Lighthouses and lighthouse keepers

Most records of lighthouses and lighthouse keepers were destroyed in the 1940 bombing of Trinity House. Browse CLC/526-05 for a list of surviving records. 

Key records include:

• Light committee minutes, 1941-77 ( CLC/526/MS30076 )
• Visiting committees' reports on light houses, light vessels, buoys and beacons, 1900 - 1936 ( CLC/526/MS30094 )
• Engineer's weekly reports on building works for lighthouses and beacons, 1838 - 1839 ( CLC/526/MS30095 )
• Register of staff appointed, 1914-72 ( CLC/526/MS30121 ) 'Station book' listing keepers and crews, 1941-55 ( CLC/526/MS30122 )
• Registers of pensionable staff (staff born 1870-1931) ( CLC/526/MS30055 )

To supplement the missing records, it is advisable to also search the following minutes:

• Court minutes, 1661 - 2000 ( CLC/526/MS30004 )
• Board minutes, 1685 - 2000 ( CLC/526/MS30010 )
• Wardens' minutes, 1822 - 1994 ( CLC/526/MS30025 )

A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through narrow and difficult waters. Pilots were licensed, not employed, by Trinity House. Records of the examination and licensing of pilots only begin in 1808 as earlier registers are presumed to have been destroyed in the 1940 bombing of Trinity House. Browse CLC/526-06 for a list of surviving records. 

• Registers of pilots' licences (London) 1808-1855, 1865-1986 ( CLC/526/MS30172 )
• Registers of pilots' licences (outports) 1808-1846, 1810-1876 ( CLC/526/MS30174 )
• Lists of pilots already working in outports, 1808 ( CLC/526/MS30193 )
• Returns of pilotage, 1854 - 1874, 1877 - 1882 ( CLC/526/MS30198 )
• Pilotage committee minutes (1809-1969) ( CLC/526/MS30158 )

The registers of pilots' licences are indexed by name on the LMA Collections Catalogue . Simply search for the pilot's name.

6. Help for mariners and their dependents

Until 1854, British mariners and their families could petition Trinity House to receive a pension or to enter an almshouse. 

• Main series of petitions, 1787-1854 ( CLC/526/MS30218A )
• Second series of petitions, 1787-1853 ( CLC/526/MS30218B )
• Miscellaneous almshouse and pension papers, 1790 - 1890 ( CLC/526/MS30218C )
• Apprenticeship indentures of seamen, 1780, 1810 - 1851 ( CLC/526/MS30218D )

These records are all indexed on Findmypast - see Trinity House Calendars 1787-1854 (charges apply).

Further records include:

• Registers of almspeople and pensioners, 1729 - 1868, 1894 - 1995 ( CLC/526/MS30218 )
• Registers of almspeople, 1845 - 1971 ( CLC/526/MS30219 )

7. Records held elsewhere? 

Some staff records after 1910 are held still held at Trinity House. Please see the Trinity House website for further information.

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Trinity House

Copyright: London Remembers

Site: Trinity House (4 memorials)

EC3, Trinity Square

Trinity House, was designed by architect Samuel Wyatt and built in 1796.  The following year the Great Tower Hill Act enabled the creation of Trinity Square Gardens.

The magnificent building to the left of this one is the Port of London Authority HQ. We don't cover it since we couldn't find a memorial on it but we can direct you to Ornamental Passions who have done it proud.

Incidentally, we know of two sculpted lighthouses in London: on the facade of the old Abbey Nat building in Baker Street and on the corner of 42 Moorgate , another financial body. Not to forget the King's Cross Lighthouse building .

This section lists the memorials located at this site: Trinity House

Memorials i

George III at Trinity House

This building was erected during his reign.

Lighthouse keepers

The 'Elder Brethren' are the court of 31 people who run Trinity House, under ...

Queen Charlotte at Trinity House

This plaque is on the 1953 extension to Trinity House.

This section lists the memorials located nearby this site: Trinity House

Nearby Memorials i

Tubby Clayton & Toc H

Mercantile Marine Memorial - WW2

Swedish Chamber of Commerce

Falklands War memorial

Tower Hill Martyrs - Kilmarnock & Balmerino

Trinity House, London

Our london office which overlooks the tower of london.

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Information on this page is for guidance only and remains subject to change. Buildington does not sell or let this property. For more information about this property please register your interest on the original website or get in touch with the Connected Companies.