Trinity House, 99 Kirkgate, is a building in

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

, Edinburgh, Scotland, which was a guild hall,

customs house A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

, and centre for maritime administration and

poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

. In the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

and

Early Modern Era The early modern period is a historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There is no exact date ...

it also served as an

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

and

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

. Now in state care, it houses a

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navy, navies and the m ...

. It is a category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Masters and Mariners of Leith

In 1380 King Robert II granted the Incorporation of Master and Mariners of Leith the right to levy a

duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; , past participle of ; , whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, e ...

, called prime gilt, of 12 pennies on each

ton Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean: * the '' long ton'', which is * the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...

of goods landed at Leith. An additional voluntary contribution, called crown money, was also collected. Trade was largely conducted over the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, with the Nordic and

Baltic region The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, including parts of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Un ...

s, the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

and France. The funds raised by the prime gilt and crown money were then used for the

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

of the sick, the poor and the widows and orphans of lost or captured mariners; and to care for aged mariners. The Masters and Mariners of the Trinity House in the Kirkgate was the oldest and became the wealthiest of the trade guilds of Leith. The north wall of Trinity House bears a foundation stone dated 1555. This somewhat contradicts older histories which state that Trinity House was built in 1560 in replacement of "St Anthony's blockhouse" (also known also known as St Anthony's Kirk) a seemingly strongly fortified structure controlling access to the Kirkgate. St Anthony's blockhouse clearly related to St. Anthony's Perceptory, a small monastic site. Records state that the blockhouse was razed to the ground in 1560. This apparently left the vaulted structures which still exist below Trinity House. Following a series of disputes over payments, in 1566

Mary Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

confirmed the right of the Incorporation to collect payments: ratifying "the gift, foundation, erection and institution of the hospital and of the prime gilt". Refusal to pay would result in the

confiscation Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of search and seizure, seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of Tampering w ...

of sails and anchor. The medieval Incorporation served as a blueprint for the establishment of Trinity Houses in other maritime centres, including

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

in the 16th century. In 1680, funded by fees and by a levy on Leith shipmasters, the Masters and Mariners appointed a professor to teach the mathematics of navigation to the sons and apprentices of shipmasters. Concerned to improve safety at sea, Trinity House established the first formal nautical training in the country and licensed

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

s for the Forth and around the Scottish coast. By collecting Licht Money (light money), by the 17th century they were maintaining primitive coal-fired lights in the Forth. In the 19th century, Trinity House was involved in the planning and funding of new and more reliable

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

s that took advantage of improvements in technology. These included the Bell Rock lighthouse, Fidra lighthouse and the Isle of May lighthouse. On 29 June 1797 the Corporation of the Trinity House of Leith was granted a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

. This transformed the body from merely a corporation in name, of charitable status, to a true corporation. At this stage they obtained extra functions, such as choosing and licensing harbour pilots. They also had their tax powers ratified, charging one penny for every ton of goods unloaded, with this money being used to relieve the poor. Additionally, each shipmaster had to pay 6d per year, this money specifically being redistributed to poor seamen. In the 18th century, The Masters and Mariners invested in land, which became known as Trinity Mains, near the village of Newhaven. This land later developed into a suburb of Leith and into the district of

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

. As a result of the requirement for formal qualifications stipulated in the Merchant Seamen Act 1844 ( 7 & 8 Vict. c. 112), in 1855 Trinity House and other Leith organisations founded the Leith Navigational School (also called the Government Navigation School), based at a room at St Ninian's Church (also called the Mariners' Church), on Commercial Street. In 1903 Leith Navigation School came under the control of the

Scottish Education Department The Scottish Government Education Directorates were a group of the civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional t ...

, and the name was changed to Leith Nautical College (since merged to become part of Jewel & Esk College, which in 2012 merged to become

Edinburgh College Edinburgh College is a further and higher education institution with campuses in Edinburgh and Midlothian, Scotland. It serves the Edinburgh Region, Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian, and is the largest college in Scotland. It was f ...

). After prime gilt was abolished in 1862, Trinity House had to depend on property income to meet its pension payments and other commitments. Pupils from the nearby Leith Primary School are taught about the history of Trinity House and offer scripted tours of the building to other schools and a variety of selected guests.

History of the building

In 1555 the Incorporation had sufficient funds to build a hospital at the Kirkgate. The basement and vaults of the 16th-century building were incorporated into the current building, which was designed by Thomas Brown in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

and completed in 1818. The new building had three bays on the front elevation and featured a

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

with paired

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

columns on the ground floor; there was a large window with

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

columns and semi-circular

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

window above on the first floor.

References

External links

Official website
* Historic Environment Scotland
Visitor guide
{{authority control 1380 establishments in Scotland 1555 establishments in Scotland 1816 establishments in Scotland Maritime law in the United Kingdom Commercial buildings completed in 1818 Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Custom houses in the United Kingdom Economic history of Scotland Georgian architecture in Scotland Guildhalls in the United Kingdom Guilds in Scotland Historic Environment Scotland properties in Edinburgh Buildings and structures in Leith Listed houses in Scotland Maritime education Maritime museums in Scotland Maritime organizations Maritime safety organizations Lighthouse organizations Navigation Neoclassical architecture in Scotland Scottish medieval hospitals and almshouses Training organizations Water transport in Scotland Maritime colleges in the United Kingdom Almshouses in Scotland Shipping in Scotland

History

Masters and Mariners of Leith

History of the building

See also

References

External links