The Trinity House Operations Centre is based at The Quay in Harwich. Trinity House is one of three General Lighthouse Authorities in the UK. It is responsible for lighthouses and aids to navigation in England, Wales, the Channel Islands, and Gibraltar, and is the central monitoring base.
Historically, Trinity House had various depots located countrywide. Each depot was responsible for its district’s lighthouses, lightvessels, and buoys.
The original Trinity House depot was located at Trinity Buoy Wharf, Blackwall.
The Trinity House depot at Harwich was established in 1812. It was responsible for servicing aids to navigation between South Foreland and Orfordness Lighthouses and around a dozen lightvessels.
Other depots operated in Great Yarmouth, East Cowes, Penzance and St Just. In Wales, depots were at Swansea, Milford Haven and Holyhead. Before the depots were established, Agents also operated from Ramsgate and Littlehampton.
Other businesses now occupy one of the former office buildings.
Each depot performed similar duties, including buoy maintenance, lighthouse, and lightvessel relief. Harwich was originally a sub-depot of Blackwall. However, it gradually developed into a whole depot and training centre in its own right.
Officers and crew were attached to a particular depot. When reliefs took place, they reported to the depot. The lightship men worked in the buoy yards when ashore from their duty.
The Blackwall workshops were established in 1869. These were built alongside a shipping depot that had been on site since the 19th century.
During the early years of the Second World War, Trinity House transferred operations from the Blackwall depot.
The buoy yard renews and maintains buoys and seamarks. The workshop carries out repairs, top up supplies and performs general refurbishment work.
The large storehouse supplied ropes and paint for buoys and ships alongside the office building. They also supplied cleaning materials and other supplies for the lighthouses and lightvessels.
Each service tender had a section within the storehouse with supplies for the next trip.
Beyond the storehouse was the yard with buoys for renovation, housing anchors and chain cable. Trinity House employed painters, carpenters, blacksmiths and other workers.
Badly damaged buoys were initially sent to the Blackwall workshop for more serious repairs. The buoys used to operate using acetylene gas, which would be stored and replaced by the tenders. Now, they are solar-powered but still require maintenance.
Lighthouse Keepers arrived at the depot for their onward journey to lighthouses and lightships. They would then head out to relieve the keepers on duty. Keepers would be stocked up with supplies. Often, their supplies would be prepared by a local shopkeeper. The local shopkeeper knew from years of service what would be needed to cover two months of duty.
The Harwich depot was also the preliminary training centre for lighthouse keepers. Recruits were taught how to operate lighting equipment, fog signals, and radio equipment. They also learned how to take weather reports and cook skills, which was very important.
After their initial training, the recruits became Supernumerary Assistant Keepers (SAKs). They were generally posted to a depot area for practical experience at different lighthouses within its jurisdiction. SAKs would work as reliefs during periods of leave or illness. Following their probationary period, they would be promoted to Assistant Keeper and eventually (after 10 – 15 years’ service) to Principal Keeper.
Rock lighthouses usually had four keepers, three on duty and one ashore. Land stations had three keepers or two if there was no fog signal.
Originally known as the Continental Pier, Trinity Pier was built in 1866 as a terminus for the Great Eastern Railway vessels. Parkeston Quay opened in 1883, and operations were transferred to this site.
On 18th June 1910, a fire broke out in one of the storage sheds, causing devastating damage to the pier. It was rebuilt in 1915 using concrete.
Following the Second World War, Trinity House took over the pier. The pier was used to store buoys, and in 1955, Trinity House redeveloped the old pier. Lighthouse tenders are also moored here when in the harbour.
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