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About Trinity House

The Corporation of Trinity House

The safety of shipping, and the well being of seafarers, have been our prime concerns ever since Trinity House was granted a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1514.

Today we have three distinct functions:

The Trinity House Lighthouse Service

We are the General Lighthouse Authority (GLA) for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Our remit is to provide Aids to Navigation to assist the safe passage of a huge variety of vessels through some of the busiest sea-lanes in the world.

Regular traffic ranges from nimble dinghies to mighty super tankers, which have stopping distances running to miles and turning circles to match. To meet our obligations we deploy an impressive array of nearly 600 aids to navigation, ranging from lighthouses to a satellite navigation service.

Our responsibilities also include the annual inspection and auditing of over 10,000 Aids to Navigation provided by local port and harbour authorities and those provided on offshore structures such as production platforms or wind farms. Trinity House is also responsible for marking, and dispersing wrecks which are a danger to navigation.

Charitable Organisation

We are a charitable organisation dedicated to the safety, welfare and training of mariners. Click for more info.

Deep Sea Pilotage

We are a Deep Sea Pilotage Authority providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters.

Trinity House are authorised by the Secretary of State for Transport to licence Deep Sea Pilots. Although it's not compulsory to carry a Deep Sea Pilot, many ship's masters unfamiliar with Northern European waters like to employ their professional expertise to assist their bridge team.