Trinity House National Lighthouse Centre was a museum in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, UK which housed the national collection of

Trinity House "Three In One" , formation = , founding_location = Deptford, London, England , status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity , purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons , he ...

. It included an interactive significant amounts of lighthouse memorabilia which visitors could interact with, as well as a recreation of a light house keeper's bedroom. In February 2005 Trinity House announced the museum's closure and relocation of the collection to Plymouth. Trinity House confirmed that they would not be relocating the collection in 2009, and were in negotiations with

National Maritime Museum Cornwall The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall is located in a harbourside building at Falmouth in Cornwall, England. The building was designed by architect M. J. Long, following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions. The ...

in Falmouth to display some objects.

History

The National Lighthouse Centre was a museum opened by Trinity House, an organisation with a history of building an maintaining lighthouses, in 1989. The museum building was converted from the Trinity House buoy store, part of the Penzance Depot, where buoys were stored and repaired. It featured an interactive experience of lighthouse keepers, as well has housing Trinity House's collection of lighthouse equipment. It also featured a recreation of a lighthouse keeper's bed room where visitors were able to touch the exhibits, a collection of optics, lighthouse keepers' uniforms and documentation The museum also traced the history of Trinity House, also featured a selection of buoys from the buoy store. Between 1989 and the museum's closure in February 2005, the museum hosted approximately 10,000 visitors each year. Despite a campaign to keep it open, in 2005, Trinity House closed the site as they were contemplating opening a replacement museum at a busier site in Plymouth. Trinity House confirmed that they would not be moving the museum to Plymouth in 2009, and that the memorabilia would no longer be visible to the public, though they would possibly display some at the

in Falmouth.

References

{{reflist Defunct museums in England Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall Museums in Cornwall Buildings and structures in Penzance Trinity House