• Corporate Events
  • A Brief Tour of Trinity House
    • The House and its Location
    • Entrance Hall
    • The Quarterdeck
    • The Court Room
    • The Library
    • Other Rooms
    • Room Specifications
    • Trinity House Brochure
  • Gallery
  • Caterers & Service Providers
• Civil Weddings & Receptions
• Country Life Article
• Trinity House Brochure
• Venue Hire Form
• Lighthouse Cottages
• Visitor Centres
• Patricia Voyages
• Meet Trinity House
• 2009 Calendar Competition
• Fundraising for Seafarers UK

A Brief Tour of Trinity House

The Quarterdeck On climbing one of the sweeping twin curves of the staircase (there is also a lift available), you will notice a second striking aspect of the house: its fine artistic heritage. Three of the large paintings on display are by Gainsborough Dupont (nephew of Thomas Gainsborough), including the Great Court Painting of 1794. This work was commissioned to commemorate the approval of the designs for the House, and shows the architect Samuel Wyatt on the left-hand side of the canvas, holding the plans, and the members of the Court of the Corporation accepting them. Click here for a 360° view. Beneath the Court Painting three fine ship models are on display. Two of these date from the 17th Century -the St. Albans(1686) and the Stuart Royal Yacht(1682) -while the third, a model of the Royal Yacht Mary, was made in 1952 by Robert Spence, who made such an important contribution to the restoration of Trinity House's maritime heritage after the Second World War. Other notable features of the Quarterdeck are the ship's bell from the Royal Yacht Britannia, presented by Trinity House to her majesty the Queen in 1953 and returned when Britannia was finally decommissioned in 1998; and a Chinese gong first used in 1832 as a fog signal on board light vessels. The maritime paintings along the Quarterdeck include two of the oldest in the city: the ships Sovereign of the Seas and Royal Prince, painted in about 1663 on oak paneling and attributed to Isaac Sailmaker. Opposite these are two paintings of Eddystone Lighthouses, the first rock station to be built in the United Kingdom in 1698.