Day 57
Trinity House Maritime Museum
The following post and all images have been graciously provided by Lynsey Haworth and Historic Environment Scotland.
Situated in an elegant Georgian building on Leith’s historic Kirkgate, Trinity House Maritime Museum is home to an outstanding collection of nautical objects. The house was the base of a seafaring fraternity, later known as the Incorporation of Mariners and Shipmasters, who were established in 1380 to support those who had been injured or retired from life at sea. Its activities were largely funded by collecting ‘prime gilt’, a tax on merchandise loaded or unloaded from the port of Leith.
The Masters and Mariners were committed to improving safety at sea, and promoted nautical training. In 1680, the Masters appointed a professor to teach the mathematics of navigation to the sons and apprentices of shipmasters - the first recorded teaching of mathematics in Scotland. The vaults of the old Trinity House alms-house were used as a Grammar School and this was the beginning of formal nautical training in Scotland.
In 1710 the school moved to the King James Hospital, in the grounds of South Leith Parish Church. Trinity House remained involved and in 1806 the school moved to a new building on Leith Links. It was known as Leith High School (now Leith Academy), and three members of Trinity House were on the management board.
The current house was constructed between 1816 and 1818. It replaced an older building commissioned by the fraternity in the 1550s, which was used as an ‘almshouse’ or hospital. The new, grander building was much more fitting to the important role the fraternity had within the seafaring community. It was designed by Edinburgh architect Thomas Brown and cost £2,500 to build.
The house and its collections were passed into the care of Historic Environment Scotland in 2004, and it has operated as a museum since then. The majority of the objects in the house were collected by the Incorporation. These include paintings – including four by Sir Henry Raeburn – furniture, navigational equipment, and seafaring curiosities and memorabilia. Some of the collections are now available online here.